The Thief
by Hollow Mashiro
Summary: Danny falls through a portal and immediately inserts himself into a power struggle between Galbatorix and the Varden. Oops?
1. Prologue

Angela hummed, stirring her cauldron slowly. Solembum laid at her side, tail twitching. Angela thought it was an interesting day. But then, all days were interesting in their own ways, so that wasn't saying much.

Solembum's ears twitched and he raised his head, blinking owlishly. Something had disturbed him from his nap. A sudden chill up his spine, a premonition that something would happen.

Angela felt it too and dropped her stirring spoon. "Well, that is certainly something," she hummed, getting up to fetch her dragon's knucklebones. She had a feeling she'd need the wisdom they could provide. She held the bones in her hands, chanted words of power, and scattered the bones on the floor. She gasped.

The bones had fallen in a configuration she'd never imagined she'd see. Death and life were crossed, magic was upside-down, and fate intersected with change. Beyond that, the bones were in a confused jumble, unyielding any other information. But what Angela had was plenty.

Death and life, crossed. Something that connected the two somehow was coming. A new Shade, perhaps?

Magic, upside-down. The power many had relied on would fail them in some fundamental way. Angela shivered at the ill omen.

Fate, intersected with change. Fate was being changed somehow. For good or for ill, the bones didn't say.

The confused jumble. The future, the present, and even the past were uncertain. Angela hadn't seen such a mess since Eragon's reading.

 _Well, that's terrifying_ , Solembum drawled, reading the bones for himself.

Angela hummed. An interesting day, indeed.

* * *

Queen Islanzadí turned to Blagden, who had been squawking all morning and generally disrupting court with repeated calls of "Wyrda!" The white crow, normally unflappable, had been disturbed all morning. Rude though the interruptions were, something strange must have happened to put Blagden in a tizzy.

"What ails you?" Islanzadí asked.

Blagden settled near her and opened his beak to squawk,

" _The restless dead, they awake  
And living laws, they do break  
Power falters, words unwind  
To a strange corruption blind  
Beware the beggar with the gold  
For the ward may fall to his hold!_

 _Wyrda!"_

The crow flew off, repeating "Fate!" in the ancient language over and over.

Islanzadí bit her lip. Blagden's verse was as confusing as ever, but it was a warning if she ever heard one.

Something was coming. Islanzadí planned on being prepared.

* * *

Welcome to my newest plot bunny! I think this will be a short piece, no more than 50,000 words. Enjoy, and review!

-HM


	2. Chapter 1

There was a flash of light, a terrible twisting sensation – and Daniel Fenton, aka Danny Phantom, fell through the portal, his ghost form's jumpsuit smoking from the enemy ghost's ectoblast. It was a new opponent, one Danny hadn't ever met before literally stumbling upon its lair in the Ghost Zone, a realm with a bad habit of creating short-lived space-time portals leading who-knows-where-and-when.

Danny grumbled in annoyance, rubbing the smoking patch. Stupid ghost. Stupid Ghost Zone. Stupid weird, violent portal. It looked like he'd been spit into a stone castle – medieval, by the chill and the drab construction. He looked around, searching for the portal so he could return before it closed – and he saw, to his horror, only the last vestige of the portal before it closed with a small pop.

Danny swore viciously; finding another natural portal to take him home would be a giant pain in the ass. Cursing portals, the Ghost Zone, and cantankerous ghosts in general, Danny closed his eyes and focused, seeking anything that would feel like a portal. It was an extension of his ghost sense that Frostbite had showed him how to use in such a manner. He, Dora, Pandora, and Clockwork had been taking care to teach him little things about his ghostly abilities. (It pissed Vlad off to no end.)

Then Danny realized something was terribly, terribly wrong.

For one thing, the buzz of the Ghost Zone – always present, if very faint, even in the real world because it was tied so closely to the Zone – was completely missing. For another, when he opened his eyes and looked, he could now see glowing lines of script floating in the air, revealed by the extra energy he'd pumped into his senses. He was almost touching several. And for a third thing, there was a palpable sense of menace that exuded from the stone walls and the lines of script. He'd stumbled somewhere dark. Possibly evil. Danny shivered, carefully made note of where the lines of script were, and pretzeled his malleable body so he wasn't in danger of touching any of them. He didn't want to find out what would happen if he touched one. It was a miracle he hadn't blundered through several of them during his tumble from the portal.

Then he noticed the green stone in the center of the room.

It was smothered with script, but if Danny let enough energy drain from his eyes, he could see the stone. The script surrounding the stone was, if anything, even more menacing than the script that laced the room and covered the walls, floor, and ceiling. There was also some script weaved into the stone itself that Danny could barely make out, which both looked and felt different from the rest of the script in the room. It felt old and binding – a pact, not aligned toward good or evil in any way.

By the security surrounding it, Danny surmised that the stone was important. He vowed to keep his distance while he figured out how to get himself out of this mess. He couldn't phase through the walls, floor, or ceiling without touching the script; he didn't know if the script was triggered by mass or by energy and didn't want to experiment to find out just yet. The wooden door was an even worse idea, completely buried as it was with script. And he had a feeling he'd be waiting a long, long time before another portal opened in the room.

He was pondering the dilemma when something caught his attention. It was a cry, less auditory and more waves of feeling. The lines of script shivered, but otherwise did not react. Danny looked around, but nothing had changed in the room. He thought it originated from outside the room when he heard it in his mind again, louder and stronger, coming from the stone.

Danny drifted closer to the stone, threading his way through the script. He couldn't ignore something that sounded like it was in pain. He listened closely and heard it again, this time even clearer. Accompanying the cry was a wave of feelings and ideas that almost had Danny staggering into the script: desperation, sadness, loneliness, grasping, _help me_ , _get me out of here_.

Before he could think about what he was doing, he grabbed at the stone, triggering several lines of script. Immediately, a foreign force surrounded him, binding him in place. Danny concentrated his ectoplasmic energy in an acidic wave that originated from his core, burning away the bindings.

Danny took a moment to regret his leap-before-looking action before his empathy for the stone – which was obviously sentient – overpowered the guilt. The script was mostly gone from the room, but it was slowly reasserting itself, grasping at the stone and at his limbs. He shook them off with another wave of ecto-energy, frowning. It seemed as if the lines of script melted away in the face of ecto-energy. But why had they been there in the first place? And why did they seem so malevolent?

Then he didn't have any more time to think before a grasping metaphysical hand reached for him. He could see it glowing darkly, bloated with power. He dodged the hand, and it groped blindly for a few moments before it retreated.

The hand returned as a wave, swamping the room. Danny quickly constructed a shield to protect himself, and the wave crashed against it, seething in fury. Danny shuddered under the strain. The wave beat relentlessly against his shield, seeking weakness. Danny held fast. He had a bad feeling that there were horrible consequences if he didn't.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the wave retreated. Danny shook and almost fell to the floor, exhausted as he was for defending for so long. He saw that, in the struggle, many of the lines of script surrounding the stone had come unraveled. This time, when Danny tried to pick up the stone, it came easily. He cradled it gently, mollified by the gratitude he could feel from it. Now he just had to get out of here, wherever here was.

Danny had been attacked from above. He'd make his escape from below. He fired an ectoblast at the floor, scorching the flagstones and burning a hole in the lines of script, and phased himself and the stone downward. He felt the pressure of another vicious wave of energy approaching and sped his flight, maintaining intangibility as he crashed through multiple floors. Then he hit the bedrock, but the wave was still coming. Danny gritted his teeth and continued downward.

Before he had time to react to the change, he fell straight through the bedrock and into an underground river. He sputtered as he lost the intangibility and the river tugged him along at dizzying speeds. He didn't try to fight it; rather, he followed it away from the mental wave, speeding down the center of the river, where he could feel the current was fastest, so he didn't crash into the walls. He couldn't see a single thing, but trusted the river to guide him to someplace safe.

It felt like he was flying through the river for hours before the mental wave finally gave up. He felt a flash of seething rage before it retreated, and Danny was free to continue cruising the river without pursuit. He breathed a sigh of relief, bubbles tickling from his mouth. He was glad he didn't need to breathe in ghost form, otherwise he would have drowned not long after finding the river. He gripped the stone tighter.

Then he realized there was a feeling of desperate suffocation coming from the stone.

Danny panicked. He hadn't realized the stone needed to breathe! He was about to go intangible again and shoot for the surface when the tunnel he'd been following abruptly widened into a vast space of water. Danny powered upward through the water, seeing sunlight in the distance. He knew his ghost body was durable enough for such a swift ascent and hoped that the stone didn't suffer from a rocky version of the bends or something.

Danny broke the surface, breathing deeply. Just because he didn't have to breathe in ghost form didn't mean he found it comfortable. He held the stone above his head, and water trickled from tiny pores. There was a sense of relief from the stone. No, Danny reasoned, it was probably an egg of some kind instead of a sentient rock. Either way, though, it seemed unharmed by the pressure change or the almost-drowning.

Danny was floating in a vast freshwater lake. He could see an ugly, pointed spire of rock in one direction and a small city in another. Both features made him feel uneasy, but he might be able to find out where he was at the city. He floated out of the water, turned briefly intangible to dry himself off, then flew for the city, holding the egg close to his chest. He turned both himself and the egg invisible as they neared the city, still troubled. When he was close enough to make out the details of the city, he understood why.

There was nothing of the modernity he knew from his home. Even poorer cities had electrical lines. But this hodge-podge of a city had none of that; it was just a mismatched array of houses surrounding a cathedral at the center of the city.

 _I need information_ , Danny thought grimly, and he floated down to the teeming masses. He held his nose and tried not to gag as a strong odor of unwashed human hit his nostrils.

And there was another problem: despite them being pale in color, he couldn't understand a single word of what anybody was saying. Due to international ghost attacks, he could at least recognize most of the European languages and many of the Asian languages. It sounded like something of a crossbreed of German and English.

Then there was how people were dressed. If Danny hadn't just flown through a portal, he would have thought he was in a large-scale historical reenactment, but as it was, the plain shirts, tunics, and pants did not look out of place in a medieval setting. Danny swore out loud, not caring when several people looked up in confusion. He probably _was_ in the middle ages, if everything he was seeing around him wasn't some kind of horrible hallucination.

Danny _hated_ medieval times. Once upon a time, he'd thought knights and princesses and peasants were cool, but then he'd gone on several unwitting trips through time, most of which involved gruesome witch hunts or ghost hunts, and he'd learned to strictly avoid blood blossoms – which he had an allergic reaction to even in human form – and dungeons.

Danny made a face and flew through the streets, looking for a secluded alleyway. There was an offshoot of overshadowing that he could use to look through a person's memories and experiences, but he hated using it, as it was a horrible breach of a person's privacy. Now, however, he could use it as a quick-and-dirty way to learn the local language so he hopefully wouldn't stand out as much.

Danny amended the thought when he remembered his modern t-shirt and jeans. He'd probably have to steal clothes off a line or something. The very thought made him feel guilty, but he was extremely tired of running away from villagers with torches and pitchforks, and if the worst he had to do was steal to blend in, then he'd steal. Preferably from someone who could afford to be stolen from.

Like that guy. Danny saw a rich noble striding pompously down the street. His clothes were cleaner and more colorful than anyone else's, and he held his nose up in the air in a manner that suggested he thought many of the people he was passing to be beneath him. There was a fat money pouch dangling from his belt.

Danny maintained his invisibility and turned intangible as he glided to street level, passing through several people as he went. When he was close enough, he slid a hand into the coin purse, turned a few heavy coins intangible, and then took off into the air with his prize.

While he was flying, Danny finally found what he was looking for: a well-hidden cranny, hardly visible from the street, where a poor beggar lay. Danny frowned as he floated above the gaunt woman. No one would notice if she suddenly stopped begging for a few minutes. He gently laid the egg and the stolen coins behind the woman, out of sight, and overshadowed her.

Danny grimaced as the woman's consciousness temporarily faded. He could feel the ravages of disease and hunger on her body. Reassuring himself that he would leave some coins behind for her, as payment for the information she could provide, he dove into her sleepy mind.

He looked for her knowledge of the local language first. It was easy to find, nestled in a separate portion of her brain specifically dedicated to speech and language. He languished in that area for a while, soaking up her knowledge of the language like a sponge. It would take some time and practice before he could speak it fluently, but he was learning. Once he figured he was proficient enough to understand the common tongue, he cautiously backed out of her mind so as not to cause any damage.

But then a memory caught at him. It was bright; something significant or interesting to the woman. Despite his efforts otherwise, he spun uncontrollably down into it.

 _She was near the gate, begging as she had to now. It was a normal day: no one paid her any attention. Then, suddenly, she heard the gate guards frantically yelling to close the gate. Guards lined up in front of the gate as it screeched downward. Two horsemen careened down the road in a crazy, desperate escape. She could tell they weren't going to make it._

 _But then one of the horsemen yelled something, and the guards were swept aside by an invisible hand. The other shouted, and the gate shrieked as it halted. The two horsemen rode safely out of Dras-Leona, leaving behind a gaping crowd. No one had ever seen anyone perform magic before._

Danny wrenched himself from the memory and left the woman's body before another could catch at him. He shakily left a few coins hidden in the folds of her rags, then scooped up the egg and flew away from the scene of the crime.

Danny's conscience was screaming at him for accidentally falling into the memory. Another part of his mind was reeling from the casual display of what was apparently magic. A final, analytical part was whispering about Clockwork's lesson on portals to other dimensions, not just different times.

Danny was left a bit confused, a little upset, a lot panicked, and completely overwhelmed.

He'd never heard of the city of Dras-Leona. He'd never seen magic. And, thinking back, he'd never encountered a portal so rough before.

Danny sank to a rooftop, panicking. He frantically reached for the Zone. Once again, he felt nothing. Well, no, he felt _something_ , but it was more of a void and less of a Zone and maybe the closest afterlife dimension to whatever world he was in. It was more than enough confirmation that he had had jumped dimensions.

Danny frantically recalled what he'd learned from Clockwork. All of the Zone's portals were technically dimensional portals – the Zone and the real world were entwined but still distinct entities – but the Zone had enough unstable energy that it could access other dimensions, as well, both living and dead. These portals were rare and dangerous, violent things that could rip someone apart if they entered it wrong. Furthermore, if one found oneself falling through one of these portals, and the portal closed, one could be waiting for years for another portal to open, never mind if one could find _where_ the next portal would open. Clockwork had stressed that.

Danny laughed hysterically. Fat lot of good the warning had done him.

He sat for a while, letting himself wear the panic out. He'd gotten out of tougher situations before. He would get home eventually. Danny repeated that to himself in English – a small comfort – as he bleakly watched the city from the roof.

Plan of action? Not much had changed. Danny still needed to get ahold of some local garb, and maybe a bag, if he was going to keep carrying the egg around. He was tempted to leave it to be someone else's problem, but then he recalled its misery and stopped. He was a sucker for sad animals. However, it hadn't peeped since the lake, when it sent a rush of relief from the exposure to the air. Maybe it was sleeping? Either way, Danny wasn't leaving it. He'd chosen to save this egg from its prison; now it could be his traveling companion.

There was a market nearby that Danny could see, from all the stalls and wares set up, and he headed invisibly in that direction, finally floating off the roof he'd curled up on. He found a clothes stall in short order and left the rest of the coins he'd pilfered in place of a shirt, a belt, pants that were long enough to hide his tennis shoes (because he refused to walk around in the uncomfortable-looking boots everyone else wore), and a traveling sack that was big enough to hold the egg and still have room in it besides. Danny packed his new clothes away before leaving the store, glad that the shopkeeper hadn't noticed the transaction before he left.

Slinging the sack over his shoulder, he soared upward. He had no idea which way to go, except not east, because that was where he'd fled from. Not west, either, he decided as he looked around and couldn't see the opposite coast of the lake. He didn't want to be flying for an indeterminate amount of time, especially with his strength flagging. It had been a long day, and Danny had spent half of it fighting and the other half either intangibly fleeing or invisibly sneaking around.

So, north or south. Danny spun in a slow circle. He shivered as he caught sight of the towering, jagged, menacing peaks outside the city. They were mostly east, but a little south, and that was enough to make up Danny's mind.

He headed north.


	3. Chapter 2

Danny flew steadily north until the sun set and it became too dark to see comfortably. He circled downward and searched for shelter until he found a nice outcropping of rock to camp under. He landed and tiredly transformed into Fenton. He checked over the egg and found it to be in the same condition as he'd left it. He swiftly changed out of his jeans and T-shirt and mournfully stowed them in his sack before donning his new attire. He made a face; the fabric was much rougher than he was used to.

Then his stomach growled.

Danny flinched as he realized he'd forgotten something crucial in Dras-Leona: food. He wasn't equipped for an extended stay in the wilderness: no camping supplies, no fresh water, no food…

He'd once been stranded by himself before for a few days in the Ghost Zone and had gone camping once or twice with his family, so he knew one or two things about surviving in the wilderness. His ghost form was extremely durable, and some of that translated to his human body, so he didn't necessarily need shelter even in harsh conditions, and it wasn't terribly cold outside, anyway. However, he still needed water, and he needed food, which would both be problematic to obtain.

Danny thought about what he'd seen during his flight from Dras-Leona and realized he was close to a river, having followed it up north. He could make a quick stop there for water. He could choose to boil it, but his immune system, bolstered by the ecto-energy his ghost form produced, could handle most illnesses that could strike humans. And for food… He didn't want to try his hand at collecting wild plants to eat, because if he found something his ghost form couldn't handle, he was in trouble. On the other hand, he'd never hunted in his life. He knew the basics: find an animal, kill it, and cook it, but the specifics escaped him.

Sighing, and resolving to go hungry and thirsty until morning, Danny miserably hunkered down under the outcropping and dozed. What he wouldn't give for a Nasty Burger right now… He wanted to go home.

* * *

Sometime later, Danny woke, feeling like he was being watched. He looked around in the darkness and saw nothing. He pumped energy to his senses, enhancing them until he could see individual stalks of grass under the moonlight and hear the rustle of a faint breeze.

And Danny could see the strange script again. This time, there was a circle hovering above the egg. He craned his neck and saw a furious man within the circle, watching the egg hungrily with cruel eyes. The man noticed Danny – or, rather, likely Danny's glowing eyes – when he got too close. An additional line of script joined the first, and suddenly there was a voice accompanying the image.

"So, you are the one who stole my egg, hmm? What manner of creature are you?" The man's voice was deceptively calm. Danny struggled with his comprehension of the language before he understood what had been said. By then, the man had said something else, this time in a language Danny did not recognize.

Danny remained still, feeling the weight of those eyes upon him. They reminded him of Vlad's eyes: powerful, greedy, evil, manipulative. If the egg had been this man's…

 _Great. I already have an enemy here. And a powerful one, too_ , Danny grumbled to himself. He looked at the egg. _I should have just left you where I found you. Now I'm a fugitive._

Feeling disconcerted and not wanting to be in contact with the man any longer, Danny allowed ecto-energy to gather in his palm and waved his hand through the circles. There was an enraged shout before the script vanished, burned away by the ecto-energy.

Through the night, the rings of script formed several more times. Danny destroyed each circle as it appeared. He did so as Fenton, not wanting the man to see him entirely with his ghost form's glow. He hated being spied upon, and he didn't like the creepy feeling the man gave him.

Finally, the attempts stopped, just as the sky turned gray in the pre-dawn light. Danny sighed, exhausted from staying up all night. He was still hungry and thirsty, too.

He curled around the egg and waited for dawn.

* * *

After the sun had risen, Danny transformed back into Phantom, grabbed his sack, and flew west toward the river he'd seen. While he was starving, hunger gnawing at his stomach, water was of a greater priority. He gained speed as the river came into view, then landed at its bank. He knelt down at the river and, after a moment of deliberation, cupped water in his hands and drank. After drinking his fill, he stood and sighed contentedly. He was still hungry and tired, but he already felt much better.

Afterwards, Danny floated over the center of the river, looking for fish to catch. He eventually found a shoal of fish in the shallows and speared a couple of them with shards of ice.

Giddy from his success – as he'd never utilized his ice powers in such a manner before – Danny landed on the bank again. He gathered some shrubbery to burn and, after a quick ecto-blast, had a nice fire going. He put the dead fish over the fire – a quick infusion of energy to the ice spears ensured that they wouldn't melt in the heat – and waited for the fish to cook. He wasn't sure how long he needed to wait, but he figured that so long as the fish wasn't charred black, he was okay.

While he was waiting, he heard hooves nearby, enough for a single horse. Turning invisible, Danny watched as a lone horseman approached the river to let his horse drink. Danny cursed internally as he watched the man make his way over to Danny's fire, curious about the untended food. Then he started poking at the sack containing Danny's old clothes and the egg.

Danny had to intervene before the man found something he shouldn't. He invisibly transformed into Fenton, then quietly stepped up behind the man and poked him on the shoulder.

The man shouted in surprise, drew a sword from his hip Danny hadn't noticed, and swung. Danny almost got his head taken off for his trouble. As it was, when he leaned backward, the sword tip still came within inches of his throat.

The man blinked when he realized he wasn't under attack. "Sorry, friend. Didn't realize you were still close by!" He laughed nervously.

Danny carefully composed the response in his head before trying it aloud. "It's okay," he said slowly, making sure to get the pronunciation right. "Could you please not go after… my things?"

"You're lucky it's me instead of some thief," the man admonished, sheathing his sword. "I'm Jugh. What's your name?"

"…Danny."

"Danny, eh? That's a strange name," Jugh said. Danny shrugged. "Whereabouts you're heading?"

"North."

"Ah, I'd be careful heading that way, if I was you. I've heard stories of entire villages being burned to the ground by Urgals."

Danny was wary of asking what Urgals were – the man spoke as if Danny knew what they were, and what Urgals were was likely common knowledge – but he needed to know what he was getting into by heading up north. "What are Urgals?" he asked carefully.

Jugh laughed. "What are Urgals? Ha! What are Urgals, he says! Even city folk like you must have heard of the brutes." Danny shook his head. Jugh gaped. "Well, aren't you a sheltered one? Urgals are monsters that roam the countryside. They walk on two feet like men, but they fight and slaughter like savage beasts. I've never seen one, but I hear they're larger than any man and have horns upon their heads."

Danny considered what he had heard, translating it in his mind. Urgals sounded something like orcs or trolls. He would be fine while he flew. Maybe he should make camp in trees from now on?

"Eh, let's not let such unlucky talk foul the air, in light of such a good breakfast!" Jugh eyed the fish. "Say, what are you roasting those on?"

"Rocks," Danny lied, cursing himself for not finding branches to stick the fish on instead of ice spears.

"Strange rocks," Jugh grumbled, sitting down next to the fire. Danny saw no way of getting rid of him soon, or at least until the fish had finished cooking. Which would probably be soon, given the aroma in the air and the fish's blackening scales.

Danny pulled one of the spears of the fire and prodded the meat. It seemed to have toughened from when he'd freshly caught the fish. He tugged the fish off the spear and offered it to Jugh, who took it with evident delight and a thank you. Danny took the other fish and eyed it dubiously. He'd never eaten fish straight from the stream before. He surreptitiously eyed how Jugh did it.

Jugh had taken out a knife and was scraping one side of the fish's back off. He then took the strip and ate it whole, scales and all. Danny made a face.

"Here, let me do yours, oh sheltered one," Jugh said. "Bet you don't know how." Danny shook his head and handed over the fish. In quick order, it was split into pieces of fillet that Danny could eat and separated from the head, tail and organs. Jugh had sliced the fish into pieces so fast Danny hadn't been able to figure out how he'd done it. Danny thanked him and turned to his meal, ravenously falling upon the food. The nervousness from interacting with the man had turned his stomach into knots, but the sight of food in front of him brought his appetite roaring back.

"Hmm," said Jugh. "A little underdone, but not bad for your first try." Danny nodded, accepting the critique.

Both fish were finished shortly. Danny's stomach still ached – one fish hadn't been enough – but he couldn't go fishing with his audience, so he put out the fire by smothering it with dust and grabbed his bag.

"Heading off?" said Jugh. "You should go back home. You won't last long out here."

"Thank you for the concern… but I really do… have to go," Danny said slowly.

"Suit yourself," Jugh shrugged. "It ain't my business where you go and what you do."

Danny nodded before shouldering his pack and walking off.

Jugh let his smile drop. He grabbed one of the spears Danny had claimed were rocks. They were far too finely pointed and thin to be rocks. He fingered the spear, noting its bluish color and its frigidity. "Magic," he cursed, recognizing it for what it was. Jugh glanced in the direction Danny had headed in and shook his head. He buried the spears and obliterated all traces of their presence in the area. Of all the rotten luck…! Running afoul of a magician by himself, the king's or not, was bound to bring misfortune. Jugh hurriedly left, thanking his lucky stars that his destination was south, away from the young man.

* * *

Once Danny was out of sight, he turned into Phantom and invisibly leapt into the air. He considered staying by the river and catching another fish upstream, out of sight. He decided to catch another fish or two to eat, but to not make a fire. He could fry the fish with ecto-energy while he was flying.

On second thought, given how often his parents inadvertently brought food to life, maybe that wasn't such a great idea. Fire it was, then.

Upstream a ways from where he'd met Jugh, Danny found a secluded knot of trees by the river. He circled the area a couple of times and, seeing no one nearby, stashed his pack under a root system and formed a couple more ice spears to fish with. In short order, he had another fire going with another two fish cooking.

 _Let's hope I don't run into anyone else,_ Danny thought as he ate, carefully slicing into the fish with thin lasers from his fingers. _I can't afford talking to anyone else. Knowing my luck, the egg belonged to someone super powerful and he's now touring the countryside trying to find me._

Finally sated, Danny buried the remains of his food, kicked out the fire, and took off, bag flung over his back. The sun was high in the sky by this time. With nothing better to do, Danny kept flying north, following the river.

While he was flying, Danny practiced speaking the new language he'd picked up. He needed to be able to speak it fluently; he was just lucky Jugh hadn't asked why his speech had been so slow or why he hadn't had any fishing gear with him.

Eventually, the river twisted off to the west. Danny debated between following it and staying north. He finally decided to stay by the river, as it was a convenient source of food and water.

Soon, the flat plain turned into foothills as a mountain range came into view. Danny shivered as he looked at it. It was a jagged range, quietly dominating the landscape. Danny had barely reached the mountains when the sun began to set. He made it to a small lake in the middle of the pass when the sun dipped beneath the horizon. That night, Danny found shelter in a copse of trees, well away from the road he'd seen. He huddled at the base of a tree with the egg.

Danny reviewed his situation. He had no idea where he was going, and surviving day-to-day would be a struggle. He was likely being chased by a madman, if his impressions the previous night had been correct. He was trapped here for the time being. After reviewing all this, Danny couldn't help but feel miserable. He consoled himself by wrapping around the egg, which sent feelings of happiness to cheer him up. At least he'd done something right in this dimension by taking the egg.

Despite his best efforts to stay awake – what if the circle of script and the menacing man within returned? – he drifted off to an exhausted sleep.

* * *

Danny dreamed. He dreamed of flying northeast over a vast plain. He dreamed of a city by a lake with a garrison. He dreamed of flying over the lake into a gigantic forest, larger than the plain. He dreamed of flying through the forest until he came to another city by a mountain. He dreamed of handing over the egg to a race of beautiful people with pointed ears. He dreamed of a voice whispering, _You may find what you seek here…_

Danny woke up, feeling like he'd been violated in some way. He looked over at the egg. It was oozing contentment, the first impression he'd gotten from it since the lake by Dras-Leona. Danny understood then that his dream had been no mere dream; he'd somehow seen a far-off place to take the egg.

"Is that where you want to go?" Danny asked, his speech in the new language much smoother. He received a humming sensation from the egg. "I guess that's a yes." He thought about the words he'd heard. Maybe someone was helping him get back home. His dream certainly felt different from the castle he'd fallen into or the man he'd seen in the circle of runes.

Danny mentally planned out his journey to the place he'd seen. He'd have to retrace his flight through the pass along the river, then head northeast to a city, then a lake, then a forest. He wasn't sure what he'd eat along the way instead of fish, but he'd figure something out.

He started off in the morning, feeling refreshed and much more confident now that he had a destination to go to.

* * *

This is pretty filler-y, so sorry about that. Action will pick up next chapter. Also, I have determined that I never want to be caught by myself in the wild because I would probably eat a poisonous mushroom or something and die.

Thank you for the overwhelming response I received for the prologue and first chapter! I almost can't believe it. Thank you again, and please leave a review on the way out!

-HM


	4. Chapter 3

Danny took off following another breakfast of fish. His pace picked up from the lackadaisical meandering it had been the day before, now that he had somewhere to go. He backtracked along the river and, once he was free of the mountain pass, turned northeast.

A huge plain greeted him, full of long grasses and shrubbery. He flew at top speed over it, stopping only to get some water from a spring he noticed. He spent the entire day flying.

The egg was a lot more talkative than the previous day. It seemed to enjoy the wind rustling through the bag but was confused by how cold Danny's back was.

The sun was just disappearing behind the horizon when Danny noticed a group of lights on the ground. Curious – perhaps they were this realm's version of ghosts – he landed a ways away and watched.

They appeared to be mischievous balls of light, flashing all colors of the rainbow and bouncing on the ground. They varied in size and were surrounded by an electric corona. They approached Danny and circled him cheerfully, humming loudly. They exuded feelings of curiosity and happiness; Danny could tell they weren't enemies.

One approached him and nudged him. Danny felt a burst of bliss, tingling all over his body. He shook it off, knowing it was induced by the being in front of him. It returned to the circle, acting like it was pouting.

The beings flashed as one, and Danny was almost overwhelmed by the feelings he was picking up. They meant him no harm and were merely curious about his presence like he was of theirs, as they could feel that he was not from this realm. They'd never met one like him before.

The halo around each ball expanded so Danny was in the center of a lightning storm. He stiffened as he felt his mind being caressed by an alien being. He felt like he was being examined closely, his every physical and mental move seen and recorded.

 _Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?_ they whispered into his mind. _Little phantom, who are you?_ Danny wasn't hearing words so much as he was gleaning impressions from the beings. Had he not been in ghost form, his ectoplasm resonating with whatever frequency the spirits gave off, he doubted he could have understood them.

Danny had a feeling they weren't asking for his name. _I'm a guardian,_ he responded mentally, thinking of how he protected Amity Park and, for the time being, the egg. _Who are you?_

 _We are spirits of Alagaësia, of this land_ , they chanted. _Where are you going?_

 _North, northeast. What's up there?_ Danny asked.

 _The forest of Du Weldenvarden, of course!_ the spirits giggled. _You'll find the elves there, too._

 _Elves, huh?_ Danny said. He felt like he'd fallen straight into a fantasy novel. Elves? What next, dwarves?

 _Those live in the Beor Mountains in the south_ , the spirits sang. Danny felt like facepalming.

After some minutes of silence, the spirits' essence brushing up against Danny's core, leaving tingling impressions in their wake, Danny realized the spirits were waiting for him to ask another question. They would entertain one more before departing. He was just glad the spirits seemed to like him instead of deeming him their enemy. _Who's the guy this egg belonged to?_ Danny asked, revealing the egg.

 _Galbatorix_ , they hissed. They flitted some distance away before returning. _The mad king. Beware, little phantom, for he already pursues you…_

Danny hastily catalogued the information he'd been provided with. He had fallen into a land called Alagaësia. He was heading up to the elves, who lived in the forest of Du Weldenvarden. Dwarves also existed, and they lived down south, in the Beor Mountains. He had become the enemy of someone powerful – the mad king Galbatorix, if the spirits were to be believed. He tightened his grip on the egg, torn between being glad he'd saved the egg from the king's castle and horrified that he'd made an enemy so quickly.

The spirits sparked their auras, sending a tingle down Danny's spine and earning them his attention again. _What is it?_

 _The elves will be pleased with your dragon's egg_ , they sighed. They sent one last impression – that they were glad to talk, as most mortal beings in this realm could not understand them beyond the bliss they'd granted Danny before the conversation had begun – then swirled around him in an ever-widening circle before dispersing like leaves in the wind.

"Dragon's egg?" Danny said aloud, incredulous. He _had_ fallen into a fantasy novel. Magic, dragons, elves, dwarves… It was strange, being subjected to the fantasy kind of crazy instead of the ghost kind of crazy. Then again, the spirits were pretty ghostly…

Danny shook his head to get rid of the stray thought. He needed to focus on finding shelter for the night. But before he left the area, he noticed something shiny on the ground where nothing of interest had been before the spirits left. He stooped and picked up a rock, about the size of his palm, that shimmered gold. The spirits, whimsical beings that they were, had left behind a gold nugget. Thinking that it might be useful to barter with, Danny scooped it up and pocketed it. He inwardly thanked the generosity of the spirits and hoped that whatever information they'd gleaned from him during their exchange was payment enough.

He eventually found a large bush with hanging limbs that he could crawl under. He didn't know what it was called. The grasses tickled his nose as he ducked beneath the bush and curled up by its woody stem.

He fell asleep between one breath and the next.

* * *

Danny woke up to a growling stomach, reminding him that he'd hardly eaten the previous day, since he didn't know how to hunt. Scowling, Danny crawled out from under the bush. He just had a little bit farther to go before he'd reach that lake he'd seen, and then he could fish all he wanted, there. He transformed, feeling weak and shaky, and took off. Hating how wobbly he felt, he stuck closer to the ground, in case his powers failed on him.

He only had to fly a short distance before he stumbled across a road. Unpaved, yes, but it was wide enough to fit at least two carriages, so there was no mistaking what it was. Danny could see a smudge on the horizon around where there was a city.

Not wanting to be seen as Phantom, and not feeling strong enough to maintain flight and invisibility through the city, Danny transformed back to Fenton and shouldered the pack with the egg in it, resolving to walk to the city to find someone willing to trade some food for the gold nugget. (Probably an uneven trade, but Danny really didn't care. All he wanted was enough food to last him for the journey, whether it was caught or bought.) The egg radiated curiosity at the switch.

Around midday, when the smudge had sharpened into a hazy outline of buildings, Danny started passing by other travelers. Some were dressed like him, simple folk who lived simple lives, but he also saw many soldiers, men with armor, chainmail, and weaponry. Multiple soldiers eyed him suspiciously.

 _Maybe I should have risked flying invisibly over the city_ , Danny thought, disconcerted by the attention he was getting. He quickly glanced down and confirmed that his modern tennis shoes were covered by the hems of the overly-long, old-timey pants.

Thankfully, the guards at the gate paid him no extra special mind as Danny entered the city with a group of other people, then split from them when he found a sign board. He hadn't picked up how to read the local language from the beggar in Dras-Leona, but for some reason, the people here used the same letters as back home, so by sounding out the words, Danny could understand what was written.

"Welcome to Gil'ead," the sign read. Underneath were several wanted posters, with rewards posted in crowns, the local currency. So the city was called Gil'ead, then? And the gold coins were called crowns. Good to know.

Danny looked around. He wasn't the only one at the message board, and being crowded by so many people while he was a fugitive made him uneasy. He slipped away and began to wander the streets, looking for a market. He eventually had to stop someone and ask for directions.

Gil'ead's market was much like Dras-Leona's. Danny looked around at the variety of goods offered. His stomach growled when he laid eyes on the food stalls; Danny winced and forced himself to keep walking. He had to exchange his gold nugget first, and for that, he needed a jeweler. Danny finally found one at the end of a row, showcasing finely crafted metal baubles and elegant jewelry.

"Welcome, welcome!" the merchant running the stall said warmly. "Something catch your fancy? Perhaps something for a lady friend, hmm?"

"I'm actually here to trade," Danny replied.

"Oh? Let's see what you've got, then." As Danny dug around in his pocket for the nugget, the merchant observed, "Interesting accent you've got there. Where're you from, friend?"

Danny sweated. "Uh, really far away." It was technically true. "Now, how much is this worth?" He put the small nugget on the table between them, distracting the merchant.

"Hmm, for something of this size… I'd say around fifty crowns," the man estimated.

Danny scowled. He had no idea how much a crown was worth, or how much he could buy with fifty crowns. He had no way to know if the price the man had given him was fair. "Are you sure it's not worth more?"

"Sixty or find someone else," the man grumped.

"Okay," Danny hastily agreed. "That seems reasonable?" The merchant gave him an odd look. Was it because the price really wasn't fair? Had Danny made a faulty assumption?

While Danny stewed, the merchant took the gold nugget to a lockable trunk and opened it. After depositing the nugget, he grabbed a small sack and filled it with coins. Danny was too nervous to count them. After receiving the bag of coins, Danny stuttered a thank you and bolted.

Once he was away from the merchant, Danny breathed a sigh of relief. He'd gotten through the encounter okay. Now he just needed to buy some supplies. And food. He tied his new bag of coins to his belt and headed off at a more sedate pace.

Danny returned to the row of stalls that had food and bought four skewers of meat, two fresh fruits, and a roll. He sat on a curb behind the stalls and ate his acquisitions, feeling much better for having eaten. He stood and returned to the stalls, looking for food that would last for a while. He finally found a stand that specialized in travel food.

Danny made a face as he doled out enough money to buy a week's worth of jerky and fruit. His taste buds would not thank him later.

An idea hit him as he wandered through the stalls afterward with a bulging pack. He should probably buy something to hold water in. Sturdy plastic bottles were a thing of the far-flung future; the temporally appropriate equivalent was probably a waterskin or something. Danny made another face. He was really starting to miss technology.

After purchasing a waterskin, leaving Danny with a little less than half the crowns he'd bartered for, he started making his way back toward the gate, winding his way through the streets. Many of the people he passed were soldiers; Danny wondered why. The reason came to him as he passed a sprawling complex and heard the sounds of metal crashing against metal within.

 _Those are soldiers sparring_ , Danny realized. He took a closer look at the building before he turned completely around and strode away, face white. _I'm running away from a king, and I've just happened to stumble across the barracks for his army?! Shit_ , Danny swore mentally.

Then things got worse. "There he is!" Danny heard a familiar voice call. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the merchant whom he'd bartered the gold nugget with pointing in his direction, accompanied by a pair of scowling soldiers.

Danny ran, pack bouncing on his back. The egg made its displeasure for the situation known with a disjointed tangled of emotion. Danny was almost free of the city; a confrontation with the soldiers now would only bring disaster. He heard shouts and pounding feet behind him. Once he'd left the city, he could crouch in the tall grasses, transform, and fly invisibly to safety.

An alarm was sounded. Danny doubled his pace and soon rounded the final corner to the gate.

The gate was closed. He would have to go intangible to flee the city. He didn't know any other way out, so he would have to reveal his powers. He winced but continued running straight for the gate.

Then a metal-plated leg came out of nowhere, barking his shins and sending him stumbling into the dirt. He tried to scramble to his feet, but something hard impacted with his skull. He reeled, stars shooting into his vision.

"Tough little thing, isn't he?" Danny heard before he was hit on the head again, and he knew no more.

* * *

A bit shorter than the previous chapters, but here was such a good place to end it, don't you think? Hehehe…

Hopefully, the next chapter won't take terribly long to get out. See you soon! And thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and followed!

-HM


	5. Chapter 4

Danny woke up in stages, his head aching. He groaned and shifted on scratchy cloth, his joints cracking, before he opened his eyes.

He saw a stone ceiling and walls, then an iron-barred door. Danny winced as he remembered his predicament.

He'd been captured. The egg was gone, as were all of his supplies.

And what was worse, his head was spinning unpleasantly. When he reached for his ghost powers to phase out of the cell, they slipped from his reach. Either his head injury was worse than he thought, or he'd been drugged. Either way, there wasn't much else he could do besides wait, rest, and recover, so Danny rolled over and closed his eyes again.

It was slightly strange, not panicking in a situation such as this anymore. He'd been captured and held powerless too many times, if he was this calm.

After he rested, hopefully his powers would be back online. None of the guards knew exactly what he could do, and Danny was banking on that ignorance to leave him an opening to escape. He would phase out of the cell, hide invisibly for a patrol to pass by, overshadow a guard to learn where the egg and his supplies had been taken, fetch said items, and fly invisibly away from the city. No problem. He just had to be patient.

Danny was dozing lightly when the cell door banged open and two soldiers entered. One was a decorated officer; the other was a foot soldier. Danny eyed them warily but made no move to get up.

The officer examined him for a bit before speaking. "I thought it was mighty suspicious when I heard a merchant talking about a shifty foreigner, but I never could have imagined I'd have landed myself such a fugitive," the officer sneered. "Now, how did you steal the dragon's egg? And how did you get from Urû'baen so quickly?"

Danny kept his mouth shut. He blinked, but gave no other outward indication that he'd heard the questions.

"Where are you from?"

Still, Danny remained defiantly silent.

"Answer me!"

Nothing.

The officer growled. "Fine. Let's see you hold your tongue in a few hours, once His Majesty's agents arrive!"

"Bring it on," Danny replied defiantly. He didn't take threats to his person lying down anymore.

"Silence, you impudent brat!" The officer backhanded Danny with all his strength. It would have hurt enough normally, but coupled with the iron gauntlets the man was wearing, Danny was just surprised his jaw didn't break or a tooth wasn't knocked out.

Danny spit out a globule of blood. "Speak up… or shut up… which do you want?" he said. It took more than a little pain to convince him to stop running his mouth at people he probably shouldn't be running his mouth at. Plenty of ghosts scarier than these soldiers had tried and failed to make him submit.

The officer's breath hissed through his teeth. "I will enjoy watching your defiance broken soon," the officer said before sweeping out of the cell with his underling, the door banging shut behind them.

Danny rubbed his face, imagining the no doubt magnificent bruise that was blossoming on his cheek. More worrisome, however, was what the officer had alluded to during the conversation. Danny doubted the king's agents would invite him for tea and cake. If he was facing torture, he absolutely couldn't stay here. He'd been lightly tortured before – between Vlad and Skulker, it wasn't a surprise – but it was never pleasant and he definitely didn't want to stick around to see if the king's men used more painful methods. (Knowing Danny's luck, they'd skip the electrocution his enemies liked to use and move straight to permanent physical harm.)

Now more worried than he had been when he'd been brought in, Danny reached for his ghost powers again and growled in frustration when they slipped from him. Again. He was on a tight schedule, now, and it would be nice if his ghost powers could get with the program.

But he still couldn't do anything more than wait for either his ghost powers to come back or for another visit from his captors. He flopped down on his cot but was too restless to settle down enough to doze.

He wondered what they'd done with the egg. Were they treating it okay? Had it already been removed from the garrison to be shipped back to the city he'd stolen it from (called Urû'baen)? Eventually, he fell into a meditative trance, the best he could do without actually sleeping.

Sometime later, the door to his cell screeched open again, startling him from his trance. The officer he'd seen before was back, this time with a whole squadron of troops to back him up. The officer smiled unpleasantly before grabbing Danny and hauling him from the cot.

Danny dug his heels in and struggled as handcuffs were forced onto his wrists and he was marched from his cell. A blow to the back of his head sent him reeling, making his head spin. He automatically reached for his ghost powers in response and got a flicker of a reaction, enough to turn the tips of his fingers intangible, which wasn't helpful. A head injury wouldn't keep him down for so long, so he'd definitely been drugged.

Danny was led farther into the barracks, out of the cellblock (which was curiously empty save for him). He was shoved into another room and chained to the wall. Danny gulped. This room looked like your stereotypical dungeon, with rods and clamps and other strange implements of all shapes and size stored around the room. One corner held a blazing fire with branding rods; another held a fully equipped iron maiden. The room reeked of blood and despair.

Danny definitely did not want to find out what some of these tools were made to do. He tugged at the shackles binding his wrists and ankles, looking for weakness. Nothing. He reached for his ghost powers again. This time, they responded sluggishly, rising up to where Danny was bound only to recede again.

The door ominously creaked open, admitting a heavyset man wearing leather clothes. He examined Danny head to foot. Then he went to the fireplace and picked up a branding iron glowing cherry-red.

"Shall we start?" the man rumbled, brandishing the iron threateningly. Danny shifted as far away from the iron as he could.

"Wait! Aren't you supposed to ask me questions or something?" Danny said frantically.

"That will come later," the man replied. A chill skittered down Danny's spine. They were going to torture him for the sake of torturing him. The iron inched closer to Danny's exposed arm.

He was out of time.

Panic leant him strength and clarity of focus that had been missing before. He grasped at his ghost powers, and this time, they responded with precision. He phased out of his bonds and flailed straight through the iron before landing heavily on the floor next to his torturer's boot.

The man jumped back before recovering and attempting to brain Danny with the iron. Danny rolled out of the way, letting the iron clang harmlessly on the stone floor. He needed to take down this guy, fast, before the man thought to shout for help. He couldn't afford to show mercy.

Transforming would take too long. Instead, ectoplasmic energy strengthened his limbs, and he moved faster than it was possible for a human to move (or even react). He lashed out with a leg and swept the man's feet out from underneath him, and the man went down with a curse. Danny wasted no time in scrambling forward, putting the man in a headlock meant to choke. The man struggled mightily against the hold, but despite his strong build, he was no match for Danny's otherworldly strength, and he went limp after a few minutes. Danny checked to make sure he was really unconscious before letting go.

Danny let out a shaky breath. That had been far, far too close for comfort.

He wasn't given any time to recoup, however, as there was a banging on the door leading to the torture chamber and a shouted question if the torturer needed help. The guards outside must have heard some of the struggle. Danny attempted to overshadow the man to make use of his vocal cords but was unable to. He was still affected by the drug, then. So, in the deepest voice he could manage, he attempted to mimic the man.

"Everything is fine. Return to your posts," he rumbled.

For a moment, he wasn't sure if it would work. But then he received a subdued, "Yes, sir," and the sound of someone retreating from the door.

Danny sighed. He'd earned a short reprise before the guards started wondering why they weren't hearing any sounds of torture. He had to work fast.

First, he tried to transform. Rings sputtered at his waist before winking out. Danny grimaced and attempted to channel ectoplasmic energy. It was always harder in human form, and the drug certainly wasn't helping things. But he managed to turn fully invisible and intangible for a few moments, enough to confirm that he could. He wasn't able to lift off the ground, so flying was out for the time being, as were most of his active powers, like his ecto-rays and ice. His passive abilities, like increased strength, reflexes, and senses all seemed to be fine. His problem wasn't so much the amount of power he had at his disposal as what he could direct it to do. While he could sneak around almost indefinitely, he needed to wait more for the rest of his powers to come back online.

So, intangibility and invisibility. He could work with that, even if it was difficult. His goal was to find the egg – he was too invested in it now to just leave it – if not the rest of his supplies, and leave as quickly as possible.

He invisibly poked his head through the door and saw the guards outside shifting nervously in the quiet. He phased the rest of his body through the door and tiptoed past the guards, thankful that they hadn't taken his sneakers. He invisibly moved down the hallway until he came to a fork, and then he was stymied. Since he couldn't overshadow one of the guards, he had no idea which way would lead him to wherever they'd taken his supplies and the egg. Thinking that perhaps the storeroom would be in the direction of the cellblock, he took the path he'd been lead down to get to the torturer's chambers.

He followed the hallway down to the cellblock, past some more guards and through a couple more closed doors to find his old cell. Danny wrinkled his nose and turned away. He didn't need a reminder of his incarceration. He continued forward, into the rest of the barracks. He found a break room filled to the brim with soldiers chatting and eating. Maybe, if he listened in on their conversations, he could figure out where to find the egg.

The soldiers, for all that they were on break, had a nervous air about them. Their talk was subdued and quiet, and Danny had to creep quite close to hear what they were saying. He heard mainly about the daily comings and goings of the barracks, as well as that the barracks had received some important guests, but nothing beyond that. Frustrated, Danny turned to the head of the table, where he saw decorated officers eating. Perhaps they would know something their subordinates wouldn't.

There were three officers eating in a group. Danny mentally named them Burly, Skinny, and Sweaty.

"…can't stand those weird agents. They're not natural," Sweaty was saying as Danny approached. Burly and Skinny unhappily agreed with him.

"I wish His Majesty would choose someone normal as his agent, for once. First Durza, now these… Ra'zac," Skinny said, pursing his lips. Danny wondered what the Ra'zac were, to evoke such dread and grudging respect. He probably didn't want to find out. (Then again, knowing his luck, he'd run into them on the way out, just to make his life difficult.)

"I'm going to go check on the egg again. Having it and the Ra'zac here is making me nervous," Burly said.

 _Bingo_ , Danny thought. _Now I just need to avoid these Ra'zac._

Burly pushed back from the table and stood. Danny followed behind him as he left the break room. They soon came upon a heavily guarded storeroom.

"No one has come here, have they?" Burly confirmed with the guards. Meanwhile, Danny snuck by and prepared to phase through the door when another soldier ran forward, panting.

"The prisoner has escaped, sir!" the soldier said. "Our torturer was unconscious on the floor and the man himself gone, though we know not how he made it past the guards."

Danny's escape had been noticed. But he'd be okay so long as he remained invisible.

"Double the guards here! I don't want anyone getting ahold of what's in this room!" Burly snarled.

 _Too late_ , Danny thought gleefully as he phased through the door.

The egg was, indeed, in the storeroom, surrounded again by script. However, there were also two cloaked figures standing over the stone, clicking at each other in some strange language. Danny didn't like the vibe he got from the figures and resolved to keep his distance. He saw his pack, still loaded with supplies, on the table next to the egg and decided go after it first.

One of the hooded figures shifted as he took a step forward. "Who'ssssss there?" one hissed.

Danny froze. They hadn't actually heard him, had they? He stayed still and kept his breathing steady.

"We know you're there," the other said. "Your sssscent is quite disssstinguishable, thief. Or sssshould we call you Danny? Jugh wassss quite informative."

Well, shit. They knew he was there and they knew his name. He knew he shouldn't have spoken with Jugh, for all that he'd needed information.

Danny stubbornly and defiantly maintained invisibility to spite the figures. Then he noticed that there was a cloying smell in the air, like something sweet and rotten. The scent made him feel woozy and anchored him in place while the figures moved forward.

Danny shook his head to rid himself of the feeling. Now was _not_ the time to be anything less than level-headed.

The figures had just about reached him when he managed to overcome his paralysis and turn intangible. One of the figures reached forward and slid a hand through him. There was frustrated clicking as the figure failed to make contact.

Danny sidestepped around the figures, no longer feeling dizzy, and approached his pack. He grabbed the pack and flung it over his shoulder before the figures could turn around, spreading his invisibility to cover the pack. When the figures turned and noticed the disappearance, they hissed in surprise and anger.

The two split ranks. One went for the door while the other hurried toward where the pack had been sitting, faster than Danny knew humans could move. He leapt out of the way as the figure that had stayed behind bulldozed through the space he'd occupied mere moments earlier.

Danny didn't land from the jump. It was how he figured out his power of flight was back online. But flight wouldn't help him retrieve the egg. Unless he hovered upside-down above it… but then things would fall out of his pack.

The attacking figure screeched and charged again while Danny considered his options, turning intangible to let the figure sail through him unimpeded. To add insult to injury, he forcefully shoved the figure once it had passed, sending it sprawling into a shelving unit.

First, Danny had to get rid of the script that was, again, surrounding the egg. The script seemed weaker than what he'd seen in the castle, but there were more sets from multiple sources. Since his flight was working again, Danny wondered if he could pool ectoplasmic energy in his palm to burn through the script. It was worth a shot.

Danny grinned as the room light up in neon green, a disembodied silhouette of a hand burning in full view of the figure, who was recovering from being thrown into the shelves, and the guards, who had burst into the room at the behest of the other figure. Danny heard muttered oaths as he swept his hand over the egg, burning away the script. He was able to pick up the egg before the soldiers got ahold of themselves and charged forward, weapons drawn. Danny turned the egg invisible and jumped up, over the heads of the soldiers. Instead of exiting through the door, he intangibly slid through a wall. If he kept heading in one direction, he would eventually exit the barracks, he reasoned.

He ran through several rooms, not bothering to keep his steps quiet anymore, and did eventually leave the barracks. He looked up at the sun and judged which direction was north before taking off, still invisible. By now he was starting to feel the strain of maintaining invisibility for more than just himself for an extended period of time. There was commotion behind him in the barracks, but Danny kept going without looking back. He dodged through the crowd and ran through a few homes before making it to the gate, which was unsurprisingly closed. Danny took a flying leap over the gate, maintaining invisibility for as long as he could before letting go of the power on the opposite side of the gate, panting. He heard panicked shouts behind him but kept running.

Danny fled Gil'ead, heading north.

* * *

Man, these soldiers were just so outclassed by Danny, even not at full strength. It's kind of funny.

Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. School started and it's been tough juggling everything. Updates will come more slowly and more infrequently, but they will come, so please don't worry.

-HM


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Danny had barely made it a mile before he heard the sounds of horses pursuing him. He cursed and tried to turn invisible, but the power flickered out after a few moments. He'd used it to the max that his human form could withstand in the barracks. He tried transforming again; the rings formed at his waist but then flickered out.

Soon, he heard the sound of men yelling at him. One threw a spear that Danny barely managed to duck under after hearing it whistle through the air. He was swiftly encircled by the men on horseback. Some brandished weapons at him, but others were curiously unarmed. Among them were the two dark figures he'd seen in the storeroom; one dismounted and approached him.

"Huildr!" one of the weaponless figures shouted. Danny yelped as an invisible force bound his arms and legs, rendering him immobile. In a panic, he let ectoplasm stream to his eyes and saw that there was script tightly encircling his wrists and ankles. In that case, he could burn it away. He let ectoplasmic fire flare from his hands and feet, scorching the script away just as the hooded figure reached him. The figure jumped back with a screech at the ghostly green flames.

"Ssssso, Hissss Majesty wassss correct. You are indeed ssssomething we have never encountered before," it hissed. "Regardlesssss, you cannot escape now!"

"Oh yeah?" Danny challenged, eyes flaring. He crouched slightly before jumping as high (about thirty feet) and as far (about fifty feet) as he could, leaving the encirclement behind. He heard more shouting behind him as his pursuers scrambled to catch up. He took off running, this time enhancing his legs with ectoplasmic energy to speed up and outrun the horses.

"Thrysta vindr!" he heard. He glanced behind him and just managed to get a glimpse of a sphere made of script before it impacted with his head forcefully, sending him sprawling to the ground. He heard the clatter of hoofbeats as he was ringed again.

"Ssssstuborn," one of the hooded figures commented.

"You've got no idea," Danny panted, still defiant. He wasn't beaten yet. Ectoplasmic energy pooled in his palm before he thrust his hand forward. The ecto-blast, while weaker in human form, was enough to send one of the hooded figures tumbling from its mount with an earsplitting screech.

Danny ran forward, turning intangible and sliding through several pointy weapons aimed in his direction, and jumped onto the horse the figure had fallen from. It reared before Danny was able to direct it forward with his admittedly sparse knowledge of horseback riding.

While the horse was galloping away, Danny felt a metaphysical hand reach for him, causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand straight up. The hand wasn't nearly as strong as the one he'd encountered in the castle, and it seemed to have a different signature coded into it, but Danny was sure he didn't want it getting ahold of him. But he didn't have a chance to react – the horse was going too slowly – before the hand enveloped his mind.

Danny screamed as he felt the invader trying to take control of his body. He grit his teeth and angrily stole back control of his limbs before they could command the horse to stop. The invader tried to overwhelm him, swamping his mind and sending thorny vines spiraling into the depths of his consciousness and memories.

It wasn't the first time someone had tried to control his mind. It wasn't even the _tenth_ time someone had tried to control his mind. Danny had quite a bit of experience dealing with mental invaders. He'd learned from Frostbite how to channel his ectoplasmic energy to protect and defend his mind after the nth time he'd almost been taken over.

First, he needed to get rid of the invasion. He let ectoplasmic fire burn away the grasping metaphysical vines and force the presence away from his mind before constructing mental walls made of ectoplasmic ice. He heard a scream behind him as he roughly forced the invading presence from his mind. He felt another couple of hands attempt to breech the icy walls he constructed, but the metaphysical cold had them withering away within seconds.

Unfortunately, while he was distracted by the metaphysical invaders, the other riders caught up with him. Danny barely managed to turn himself intangible when one tried to stab him through the ribs.

Then things got worse.

Danny heard an earsplitting shriek coming from behind and above him. He managed a quick glance upward to see a horrifying _thing_ diving down towards him. It looked like the cross between a pterodactyl and a dragon, with leathery wings, a beak, and four legs. Danny turned intangible one last time as the thing reached him and snapped its beak straight through him into his stolen horse's spine. He went tumbling head over heels over the dead horse's head and came to a rolling stop some feet ahead. He groaned in pain and hoped his supplies and the egg weren't too squashed.

"Ssssurrender!" one of the hooded figures screeched. The pterodactyl-cross landed, making the other riders' horses skittish, but it also completely blocked the way back to Gil'ead. Another one screamed and landed ahead of him, blocking his path forward. And since they could fly, he couldn't jump over them like he had earlier.

With his intangibility and invisibility taxed to their limits – an inconvenience he had to deal with in his human form – and unable to transform, he had two more cards to pull. One was flight, which would probably see him meet the same grisly fate as the horse at the beaks of the pterodactyl things. The other, he could stand his ground and fight. He would have to time it carefully, but if he focused the rest of his energy into producing ice… Yes, that could work.

Danny crouched on the ground and breathed. It was significantly harder to call upon his ice powers in human form – something about them being damaging to the human physique – but he could still do it.

"Get him!" he distantly heard someone yell.

Danny breathed in, out… and let go. He felt the chill he'd been building in his core expand past his body, past his bag, and materialize as a wave of cold that assaulted his pursuers. He heard screams and a glass-shattering shriek before there was silence.

Danny opened his eyes. There was a circle of frost around his feet extending twenty feet in every direction (his range was much, much larger in ghost form). Horses' hooves were frozen to the ground. Icicles dipped from swords and the pterodactyl-cross's beak.

Then, all at once, noise seemed to come rushing back. He heard terrified oaths from the soldiers who'd been pursuing him, ice freezing them in place but not quite covering their faces. He heard cracks as the hooded figures attempted to break free of their icy cages. Finally, he heard high-pitched noises coming from the pterodactyl things. He saw cracks starting to form in the ice holding them down. His eyes widened. They were using sound to break free of the ice!

Danny staggered to his feet, light-headed from the exertion of producing so much ice in human form. He stumbled around the pterodactyl thing blocking his path forward, barely out of reach of its free neck and snapping beak. He limped forward as fast as he could manage, breathing hard. He needed to put as much distance between himself and his pursuers as he could.

He got a half an hour head-start before he heard leathery wings flapping behind him. They'd broken free of the ice. Danny had no more cards to play. He was caught.

But then a feeling in his core caught his attention. He'd been having problems connecting to his powers ever since he'd woken up drugged, but now he could feel his ghostly core clearly, without obstruction. He concentrated and summoned the familiar rings around his waist. They swept up and down his body, changing his fragile human form into his much tougher ghostly one. It was just in time, too; he whirled around, feeling refreshed, and sent a blistering ecto-blast at the pterodactyl creature, which had gotten way too close for comfort. It screeched as hot plasma met its mark and forced it away.

Sighing in relief that his powers were fully back online, Danny leapt into the air, forcing all the power he could into his ability to fly. He shot into the sky as though out of a cannon, wind whistling past his ears. Once he deemed he'd reached a high enough altitude, he slowed, then stopped, hovering and waiting for pursuit.

He waited for ten minutes. There wasn't any. He'd finally shaken them.

Danny relaxed and turned his attention to the egg. He carefully pulled it out of his pack and examined it. It didn't have any new visible marks on it. It had probably been treated reverently, if it was so valuable.

He heard the egg chirrup, the first time he'd gotten an audible response from it. It radiated happiness at being back in Danny's possession but was not terribly happy at how cold it was and how hard it was to breathe up so high. Danny didn't really feel temperature in his ghost form but could tell that most creatures would find it very cold. He dipped down a few hundred feet to where it was warmer and where there was more oxygen.

When Danny looked down, he was doubly glad his powers had decided to come back online when they did. He'd fled across a moor between the city of Gil'ead and a giant lake; in fact, it looked like he'd taken off almost at the lake's edge.

Orienting himself with the sun, Danny began coasting across the lake, heading north. Hopefully, he'd be able to make it to the lake's far shore before he began to tire.

Danny flew for hours through the sky, his ghostly tail stretching behind him. He enjoyed the breeze in his hair as he flew over the lake. Finally, by sundown, he saw the far side of the lake. By the end of the lake, he saw the beginnings of a gigantic forest stretching to the horizon with towering trees that could put redwoods to shame. He also saw trails of scripts twining around and through the trees, reaching out towards the lake. They seemed very old and benign, so Danny let them be as he landed and exhaustedly transformed back into Fenton. The script faded as the ectoplasm drained from his eyes, but Danny could swear he still felt the lines of script brushing up against him. It was a strange sensation – not bad, just strange.

Danny trekked far enough into the forest as the light faded that he couldn't see the lake anymore and then, with the last of his strength, flew up into one of the trees, nestling in the vee between one of the branches – large enough that Danny could lay down comfortably – and the trunk. He pulled out some dried fruit and jerky from his pack and hungrily ate. He'd expended a lot of energy that day.

Danny could barely keep his eyes open as he finished chewing his jerky. He clutched the egg close as he drifted to sleep in the forest of Du Weldenvarden.

* * *

Yay, Danny's finally made it to Du Weldenvarden! Wonder what's gonna happen next…? It's a bit short, but this felt like a good place to end it.

Just imagine there's a little stretch of land between Gil'ead and Isenstar Lake. I totally messed up with my map-reading skills. Oh well.

So, I was originally going to have Galbatorix himself show up and force Danny to hide at the bottom of the lake, but I decided that Galbatorix probably wouldn't have been able to make it to Gil'ead quite that fast. Also, it felt too early for the big bad to make an appearance. The Ra'zac were spatially closer. I ditched Danny hiding in the lake because I doubted the Lethrblaka would be able to keep up with Danny going at top speed, especially after breaking free of the ice.

Thanks for all your favs, follows, and reviews!

-HM


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Murtagh watched as Galbatorix raged through the castle, tearing apart precious library and lowly storeroom alike in his fury. It had been three days since the green dragon egg had been snatched from the dungeons and they were no closer to recovering it, or even to finding out what manner of creature had torn through Galbatorix's enchantments as if they had been fragile lace rather than the intimidating, robust protections they had been.

They'd captured the creature in Gil'ead – it had headed north at a remarkably fast pace – and reclaimed the egg. Unfortunately, none of the magicians in Gil'ead knew how to teleport an object through space, so Galbatorix had planned on Murtagh making an appearance on his barely-big-enough-to-ride Thorn to personally retrieve it. He also hastily sent away the Ra'zac from their mission to capture Eragon's cousin to keep an eye on the wayward egg.

Then, against all odds, the creature escaped, defeating both the Ra'zac and the Lethrblaka (by freezing them, of all things!) and absconding with the egg again. And judging by its path, it was headed to the elves.

It _rankled_. Hence why Galbatorix was currently destroying the castle. (Murtagh would never admit it out loud, but he found the creature's blatant boldness and Galbatorix's reaction hilarious and pettily satisfying.)

* * *

Nasuada had heard the recent news sweeping among the ranks of the rebels like wildfire: someone had stolen the green dragon egg from Galbatorix's castle. Normally, she wouldn't put stock in such rumors – outlandish tales such as this were commonplace – but her spellcasters in Du Vrangr Gata had scried unusual movements in Galbatorix's army, especially in Gil'ead. Either the king was planning something big, or the rumors of the green dragon egg being free of Galbatorix's hold were true.

She wondered why the thief hadn't also made off with the red dragon egg.

Regardless, she needed to contact the elves. Perhaps their spellweavers had divined the truth. Perhaps they even had eyes on the green dragon egg at this very moment.

If the green dragon egg was free, they needed to find its Rider as soon as possible. Another Rider in the war against Galbatorix would prove to only be a help, especially with Eragon's disability.

Nasuada hoped the elves would honor the agreement between them and the Varden regarding the ferrying of the egg between the two groups.

* * *

Eragon approached Islanzadí's throne room with trepidation. He'd been summoned along with Arya and his master, interrupted in the middle of a training session. Oromis looked perplexed by the intrusion, but the messenger would only say that it was urgent that they report to Islanzadí right away.

Eragon met Orik by the throne room. "Do you have any idea what this is about?" he asked the dwarf.

Orik replied, "Nay, not a clue. I only hope it is as important as the queen implied in her summons."

The small group entered the throne room to find Islanzadí pacing side to side agitatedly like a caged jungle cat. She looked up as they approached, her slanted eyes narrow.

"You are all wondering why I have summoned you here now," she stated.

"Aye," Orik agreed.

"I will not tarry with my words. Our spellweavers have determined that someone has stolen the green dragon's egg from Galbatorix."

The reaction was immediate. Eragon gasped, Orik muttered a low oath, and both Arya and Oromis both sharpened their gazes.

There was a loud commotion outside before a giant, blue, scaly head forced its way into the throne room. _Is this true?_ Saphira demanded, projecting her voice so that all in the throne room could hear her. _One of the remaining dragon eggs is free?_

"Peace, Saphira," Oromis said with a frown. But it seemed that Glaedr was similarly agitated, as Eragon heard the telltale _thuds_ of wingbeats above the throne room.

Islanzadí nodded. "Yes. We confirmed it when we scried the egg in Gil'ead, breaking through several enchantments. We know not who did the deed, only that they shortly after retrieved the egg and headed north. We can only hope they're headed our way. I have alerted the scouts along the fringes of Du Weldenvarden to keep an eye out for any travelers."

"Why not send a team of elves to actively find and retrieve it?" Eragon asked.

Islanzadí replied, "By the rate at which our thief is traveling, based on how fast they made it from Urû'baen, it is likely they have already reached the forest. Acting now would be too late."

 _But the egg is headed toward us, right?_ Saphira confirmed.

"Yes. We will be in the possession of the green dragon egg within the next few days."

* * *

Danny woke up in the middle of the night to something attempting to latch on to his arm. He groggily shook it away. It disappeared for a moment before biting at his chest, directly over his heart and his ghostly core.

"Ouch!" he hissed, fully awake now. He flailed around and somehow managed to dislodge the thing.

Danny could barely see in the darkness with his human eyes, so he let ectoplasm infuse his eyes, allowing him to see. The glowing strands of script floating through the forest caught his gaze before he noticed something a bit more immediate.

There was a glowing cord of ancient script hovering in the air before him, the end of which looked incomplete, as though waiting for something to fill in the gaps. It waved through the air before striking again. Danny put an arm up and grimaced as the strand sank its teeth in. It didn't exactly hurt – in fact, it felt more like an electrical shock – but it was still unpleasant. The strand gnawed on his arm for a few moments before retreating, drooping in defeat.

Danny followed the strand to its source and found the other end attached to the green egg, which was sticking out of his pack. He poked at the base of the strand with his finger. The egg broadcasted feelings of restlessness, confusion, and hurt. Danny wondered what he'd done to provoke such a response.

Then, the strand retreated back into the egg, leaving the normal low levels of ancient script surrounding the egg that Danny didn't feel like messing with. Danny watched the egg for a moment for any more strange surprises, but it seemed that the egg was done messing with him. Grimacing at his interrupted sleep (but really, it wasn't a terribly new sensation to be woken up in the middle of the night by something, usually a ghost), Danny settled back into the tree branch. He soon dozed off.

* * *

Danny woke long after the sun had risen to a crick in his neck and cramps in his muscles from sleeping in a tree all night long. He made a face at the discomfort before stretching and yawning. Afterwards, he ate a short breakfast, still nestled in the tree.

He checked on the egg before setting off. It was sullenly ignoring him. Danny wondered what that glowing strand had been, to make it act in such a way.

Despite being over thirty feet in the air, Danny rolled off the branch and fell straight down to the ground below. He landed heavily, but he'd enhanced his bones and muscles with ectoplasm before landing, so such a fall didn't hurt, even in human form.

"Now, where to…?" he murmured to himself. He could still head straight north, but something told him that wouldn't be the best use of his time. Instead, he channeled energy into his eyes to see the lines of script that weaved through the trees. They seemed to point in numerous directions, but there was definitely a thick bundle of them that headed northeast. Danny figured he'd find an elven city at the end of the bundle. He transformed in preparation to fly northeast.

Mistake.

The instant he transformed, all his senses were assaulted by script. Danny screamed as he was blinded and deafened, assaulted by a cloying scent and tightly bound. He instinctively let a wave of ectoplasmic energy erupt from his core and the sensations disappeared just long enough for Danny to hastily transform back into a human.

Danny's eyes were scrunched closed and his hands clasped over his ears. When he didn't feel any different, he cautiously peeked one eye open. He shut it almost immediately; he was hypersensitive to light at the moment. He let his hands drift away from his ears as the ringing faded and waited a few more minutes before trying to open his eyes again. When he did so successfully, he gasped.

He was surrounded by a ring, about ten feet in diameter, of death. All the underbrush tickling his elbows, all the grass under his feet, all the insects buzzing by his ear – all dead, all wasted. Danny shook. How had this happened? His ectoplasmic energy wasn't powerful enough to cause such ruin like this!

The script. It was a protection for the forest, keeping it healthy and whole, and Danny had burned right through it, taking a bunch of innocent life forms with it. Danny felt sick. If he wasn't careful, he could cause a slew of death in this place. Besides that, he couldn't transform, otherwise he'd be assaulted again. He'd been careless.

Was the egg okay?

Danny took the egg out of his pack, examining it. It seemed hale and hearty on the outside. Danny very, _very_ carefully channeled ectoplasmic energy into his eyes, enough to see that the ancient script surrounding the egg was still whole. The script around the egg must have been much more powerful than the script at the fringes of the forest. Danny sighed in relief.

…So, he couldn't transform while in these woods without inciting dire consequences, likely brought on by the heavy density of script in the area. And it was probably only going to get worse as he got closer to the center of the forest.

Danny shuddered. He'd never been so glad for the safety and solidity of his human form. He could deal with not transforming for a while, at least until he made it to wherever he was supposed to go.

With that cheery thought, Danny shouldered his bag again and began trekking along a game trail in the woods, following the thickest density of script.

* * *

Fadrau was having a peaceful day. He'd received the message from Queen Islanzadí to be on the lookout for anyone traveling in Du Weldenvarden, for they might be the thief that retrieved the egg from Galbatorix. So far, he'd seen nor sensed anything unusual.

Then there was a scream, an explosion, and a terrible ripple in the wards surrounding Du Weldenvarden.

Fadrau dashed toward the center of the commotion. Were Galbatorix's forces invading? He immediately cast out with his mind to his partner, who was some leagues away, informing him of the potential danger.

When he made it to the epicenter of the calamity, he couldn't help but gasp. There was a circle of death in the forest, surrounded by the tattered remains of the wards, which had a hole blasted right through them.

Fadrau immediately began patching the wards. It was a small breech, so it wasn't terribly difficult to close the hole, but it was worrying that there was something in the woods that could destroy the wards. Thankfully, some of the older wards seemed intact, making his job easier.

His partner brushed up against his mind, and Fadrau immediately debriefed him. Fadrau was, in turn, informed that a team of spellweavers from Osilon would be at the site shortly to determine the cause of the commotion and to address any remaining weakness in the wards.

Then Fadrau noticed a faint smell. It smelled like lightning and a hint of decay and led down one of the game trails. Beyond that, his sensitive eyes could pick up the faint impression of footprints on the trail. Fadrau frowned severely, his eyebrows forming a vee.

Whatever had caused the disturbance was still out there.

So, Fadrau ran on the game trail with light feet, intent on intercepting the creature which had damaged the wards.

* * *

This is the start of my Fall Break, so I will be updating both The Phantom and The Thief once per day through Tuesday. Never fear, the cliffie shall be resolved tomorrow!

-HM


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

One second, Danny was calmly walking along the game trail, enjoying the scenery around him. The next, there was a faint buzz in the air, and Danny instinctively turned intangible as an arrow whistled through his ankle. He jumped away as there were three more buzzes in quick succession, one aiming for his thigh, one for his chest, and one for his face. He was extremely glad he could turn intangible, otherwise he'd be… dead? Severely wounded? Something bad.

"Who's there?" he yelled. "Show yourself!"

There was the faintest rustle of leaves from above him, and a figure dropped into view. He was tall and slender, wearing a vest and trousers. He had a bow slung over his shoulder and a dagger in one hand. Most startling was that his hair was the purest silver, like starlight.

Well, cool as his hair was, Danny was severely ticked that the figure had attempted to attack him without first even giving a reason why. "What's your deal?" he protested. The dagger sailed through his intangible chest, aimed with pinpoint accuracy at his heart.

"Are you not the one who destroyed part of the forest?" the figure answered. "I can't allow you to roam free when you pose such a threat."

Then Danny noticed the pointy ears. "Hey, are you an elf?" he asked. Then he yelped as the figure intoned a series of words and Danny found himself bound on all sides, an intense pressure squeezing his head like a grape. He cried out in pain and unleased a wave of ectoplasmic energy to combat the script that was now surrounding him.

Deeper as he was in the forest, and the script thicker and more protected, he actually caused less damage than he had on the outskirts. Danny looked at the destruction in dismay, noting that he'd caused several strands of script to unravel and a whole host of plants to die off.

"Would you not?" he snapped at the elf. "I just want to deliver something, and maybe get some help! Quit attacking me!"

"Deliver what?" the elf asked sharply, a hairs-breadth away from uttering another fatal spell.

"Look, let me get it out of my pack…" Still intangible, Danny slung his bag over his shoulder and placed it on the ground, away from his influence. The bag turned tangible again. Danny turned his hands tangible to interact with the bag, and then he drew out the egg as a peace offering. He really didn't want to fight this guy if at all it could be avoided.

The elf drew in a sharp breath as he saw the green egg. His eyes were wide in surprise. "That's—"

"The dragon egg, yeah," Danny said irritably. "Now, how about you stop trying to kill me so we can talk like reasonable beings?"

The elf blinked, confused. "But didn't you destroy the forest?"

"Well, yes, but this—" Danny gestured around him, "—was an accident."

"An accident?" the elf said skeptically, brow furrowed.

Danny nodded. "Yes."

Danny felt a feather-light touch of another mind against his own. Unlike the human minds he'd been in, this one felt foreign, strained with echoes of fey music. Danny flinched away from the strange touch and barricaded his mind with ice. What was with the people in this world and trying to get into his mind?

"If you are truly not hostile, you will allow me access to your mind," the elf demanded.

Danny grit his teeth. On one hand, he had to allow this stranger into his mind to be cleared. On the other, he couldn't transform and escape this place. And even if he did escape, where would he go to with the egg? He was a wanted man. And besides, the elves were probably his best bet of finding out how to get home. Reluctantly, he lowered his shields.

He hissed in pain as the elf dove into his mind.

* * *

Fadrau flinched as he delved into the creature's mind. He'd never encountered anything like it before. On the surface, it seemed human, but the deeper he went, the more he felt like he was diving into an endless black abyss.

Stranger still were the images passing before him. There was a foreign city of concrete and brick with towering buildings and horseless carriages. There were green and blue creatures that wreaked havoc. And the people wore strange clothes of all colors.

But between it all, he could feel the creature's genuine desire to not fight. He saw a memory of the creature stealing the egg from Galbatorix. And he felt the creature's guilt for accidentally killing parts of the forest.

This creature… whatever he was… was not an enemy. Violating his mind further would be inhumane. So, Fadrau withdrew from the creature's mind, intent on apologizing for his suspicion and attack.

When he came back to his body, he felt chilled, as though he'd stood in a cold arctic breeze. Then he noticed the creature. His entire body was tense, eyes screwed up against the world. He evidently did not like communicating mind-to-mind.

"I am sorry," Fadrau said, bowing. "I had to be certain of your intent."

The creature opened an eye, then blinked. "Um… it's okay," he said awkwardly. "…Are we good?"

It was an odd turn of phrase, but Fadrau understood the gist of what the creature was trying to say. "Yes. You will not come to any more harm by my hand."

The creature breathed out a gusty sigh of relief. "Okay, good. So, are you going to take me to your leader, or something?" he asked.

Fadrau nodded. "Yes. I will escort you straight to Ellesméra, bypassing Osilon." He whistled sharply.

The creature jumped. "What?"

"Patience."

Fadrau took the opportunity during the wait for the elf-horses to arrive to contact his partner, Rhárma, of the new developments. She expressed delight that the green dragon egg had been found but was concerned by the creature that had retrieved it. She would pass along the news to her superiors immediately before joining him in escorting the creature.

Meanwhile, the creature was fidgeting. It was fortunate that the creature seemed easygoing, if a bit impatient, readily willing to forgive his assault. Fadrau examined him more closely. He was wearing clothes common among humans but sported curiously crafted shoes. His hair was black and his eyes were blue, though Fadrau knew he'd seen those eyes flash an inhuman green when he'd cast his spell. He looked, for all intents and purposes, like a human, if one could ignore the faint smell of ozone around him.

"So…" the creature said. "What's your name?"

"I am Fadrau. And you?"

"I'm Danny. Uh, nice to meet you."

Fadrau touched his fingers to his lips. "Atra esterí ono thelduin, Danny."

"…I have no idea what you just said," Danny admitted.

Fadrau was surprised, but unlike earlier, he didn't let it show on his features. "No? Then how did you retrieve the dragon egg if not by sorcery?"

"Well, I've got… this stuff," Danny said, his hand suddenly glowing an unnatural shade of green. "It burns through… well, I guess it would be magic, wouldn't it?"

Fadrau eyed Danny warily. The power this being held was extremely dangerous. To be honest, he probably should be put down, but that would be a poor way to repay the one who'd brought the green dragon egg to them.

"The script I can see… it is magic, isn't it?" Danny asked.

"The script?"

"Yeah. Um, it's everywhere in this forest. I can't read it, but…"

"Would you write some of what you can see?" He'd never heard of anyone with the ability to see the ancient language in action, but then again, Danny was unlike any being he'd ever encountered before.

Danny began writing on the ground with a stick. He barely finished the first word when Fadrau exhaled sharply. "Yes, that is magic."

"Okay. Cool. It's nice to finally know what that stuff is."

Fadrau shook his head. This creature may be powerful, but he was completely ignorant of how the world worked. He wondered why it was that Danny had such power but didn't know how magic worked. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to invite him into the elves' sanctuary.

On a different, unrelated note, Danny had just proved Gilderien the Wise's theory about the ancient language literally manifesting when a spell was cast, bound as it was to magic. The discovery would certainly throw the more scholarly of the elves into a tizzy.

It was just then that the three elf-horses arrived.

* * *

Danny stared at the horses in awe. They were beautiful creatures with pure white coats. And he was going to ride one of them?

…They had no saddles, only a halter. He could barely ride with a saddle; how was he supposed to ride bareback?

"Uh, I can't really ride," he blurted.

"So long as you can get onto their backs, they will take care to make sure you will not fall off," Fadrau reassured. He beckoned for the horses to come closer. They stomped nervously and flared their nostrils, off-put by Danny's presence. He had that reaction from some perceptive animals.

Danny sighed. Really, if only he could transform and fly, he'd probably have reached his destination already, instead of having to ride a horse. He eyed the closest one to him with trepidation. How was he supposed to mount it?

In the end, Danny figured that the potential humiliation of him attempting to jump onto the horse's back was too much, so he floated upwards and gently came down on the horse. It shifted, agitated by his presence, but it didn't bolt, so Danny counted it as a win.

He caught Fadrau watching him with a curious eye. "Uh, who's the third horse for?" Danny asked to delay any questions the elf might have had about his ability to fly.

"My partner, Rhárma. She will be here shortly," Fadrau answered. "In fact, she should make it here right… about…"

"Now," a new elf finished. This one was a woman with raven-black hair braided down to her waist. She was quite beautiful, in an exotic sense. She hopped onto the final horse with an unfair amount of grace. "Let's go," she said.

* * *

Over the next few days, they trekked through the forest of Du Weldenvarden. After the first day, Danny was sorely wishing he could just transform and fly to the elf city of Ellesméra. He had sores in places he'd rather not mention and his butt was aching from sitting on the horse all day. He wasn't sure, but he thought that his elf guides might have been laughing at his ineptness.

He ate the rest of the food he'd bought in Gil'ead and was forced to rely upon his guides for sustenance. They were well-equipped with all manner of fresh fruits and vegetables and bread, but no meat. Danny thought it curious but didn't ask. Maybe they were all vegetarian or something.

Danny quizzed the two elves about how the magic of this world worked. He really was quite curious about why he had such an effect upon it. They took care to answer his questions, but didn't go out of their way to explain magic to him, either. After a while, he also peppered them with questions about the rest of the world, about the dwarves and the hooded figures he'd encountered in Gil'ead and Galbatorix and dragons. They probably thought he was either stupid or extremely sheltered. Danny didn't correct them; he didn't want to drop the alternate universe bomb on them quite yet.

They weren't accosted by anyone else for the next few days. Danny thought he might have seen the shadows of some other elves flitting in the trees but wasn't quite sure. He wished the elves weren't quite so reticent. They seemed to have a knack for speaking in riddles.

Four days after they'd started their journey, they were joined by five other elves. These ones were even quieter than Fadrau and Rhárma. All that Danny gleaned about them was that they were sent by someone called Islanzadí for both his and the forest's protection.

Finally, after about a week of travel, they made it to the outskirts of Ellesméra.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed! See you tomorrow!

-HM


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Danny shivered as he passed through what felt like a curtain of water. He glanced around, but his elven guides were unaffected. He looked questioningly at Fadrau, who he had learned was the most talkative and friendly of his guides (which wasn't really saying much, because beyond their first encounter, he had been almost as quiet as the rest).

"We have passed the outermost wards protecting Ellesméra," Fadrau explained. During their journey, the elf had figured out much about how Danny's ectoplasmic energy interacted with magic. Since he was able to see it and interact with it in its rawest form, it made sense that he was more sensitive to it, especially in his ghost form (hence why he couldn't stay transformed in Du Weldenvarden).

The elves hadn't pried about what he was, but if he extended his aura a bit to brush up against the elves, he could feel their curiosity. No matter how they adjusted their mental shields, Danny could still get impressions from them, which disgruntled them. Danny supposed that he was sensing something else from them that they hadn't discovered how to defend yet, a different spectrum of information than simply their minds. (Now, he had no doubt that those powerful mental shields would keep him from overshadowing the elves, as overshadowing did bring him into contact with their minds.) So, they were probably waiting for something before grilling him about his origins and abilities.

They trekked farther into the forest. The trees began to thin out slightly, allowing pools of light to form on the forest floor. The grassy underbrush began to become peppered with flowers of all colors, making a slightly sweet scent waft through the air. The trail widened, enough for the entire group of horses to ride side-by-side.

Fadrau brought the group to a halt. On the path before them was an old elf dressed in robes with a circlet upon his head. He was the first elf with signs of aging Danny had seen upon his face, with slight wrinkles on his brow and around his mouth.

"That is Gilderien the Wise," Fadrau said. "He is responsible for welcoming travelers to the city. None may pass unless he permits it. Show him the egg."

Danny did as he was instructed, bringing the green dragon egg out of his pack for the old elf to see. The elf scrutinized the egg, then Danny. Danny felt a wisp of a touch against his mind, but before he could even think to defend against the intrusion, the touch had moved on.

The old elf nodded at Danny before bowing slightly and extending his arms in greeting. The group rode around him as they moved forward. When Danny glanced back, Gilderien the Wise was gone.

As Danny rode forward, he began to notice artificial constructs in the forest: well-maintained paths, odd angles jutting from trees, walkways suspended above dips in the ground. The houses were beautiful constructs of wood and window and looked as though they had been grown straight from the tree rather than built around the tree.

Danny, with his enhanced senses, heard the elves before he saw them, whispering like rustling leaves. They spoke in a language Danny had no knowledge of. Then they started stepping into view, eyeing him warily. Their hair was either dark as shadow or bright silver as starlight, and they wore tunics of russet and green. They had finely shaped faces, like the elves guarding Danny.

"This way," Fadrau said, guiding Danny through the crowd.

About halfway to their destination, the elves dismounted and motioned for Danny to do the same. "Gánga," they said to their horses. Danny's horse remained by his side until Fadrau whispered to him to release the horse with the same word the elves had spoken. Danny was reminded of the time he'd been learning the common language of this world, forcing his tongue around foreign pronunciations and grammatical structures.

Finally, they reached a dense root system that formed stair steps to an imposing door made of oak. Fadrau led the way, pushing open the door and ushering Danny inside. The rest of his guards remained outside.

The first thing Danny noticed was the dragon. A beautiful, sparkling sapphire blue, it stood in the center of the room, waiting patiently for their group to enter. It blinked once at him, then scented the air. It growled and shifted uneasily. The one human in the room, who was standing next to the dragon, placed a hand on its leg to calm it, frowning. There was one short man, dressed in dark, heavy clothes, standing next to the human. And finally, the rest of the inhabitants of the room were elves adorned with circlets, either seated in one of the chairs arranged around the room or standing next to the dragon. The two standing elves were both beautiful, with long, dark hair and striking features.

The door creaked shut behind him. Danny tightened his grip on his bag. If he needed to run, he was at a definite disadvantage. He was trapped.

"Welcome, stranger," one of the standing elves said, extending her arms in greeting.

"Uh, hi. I'm Danny," Danny said, bowing his head to her in respect. With the most ornate circlet, it was likely that the elf who had spoken was the queen.

"Danny. I am Islanzadí, queen of the elves," the elf woman said, "I have heard whispers that you bring something very important to us. Is this true?"

"Well, if you think this is important…" Once again, Danny dipped his hand into his pack and withdrew the dragon egg. There was a wave of murmurs through the room. The dragon hissed, its neck arching and its pupils slitting.

"By Helzvog's beard," the short man – dwarf? – muttered. "He really did steal it."

"How?" the human asked, eyeing him as if he were an enemy.

"Simple, really," Danny quipped. "I just burned away the enchantments protecting it."

His answer incited another wave of murmurs. The other elf lady, the one who was not the queen, frowned. "It would not be so easy to bypass Galbatorix's protections, I think. Speak clearly."

"Well, how do I say this…" Danny began, thinking. How could he explain his powers and his origins to these people? "It's complicated."

"Well, un-complicate it," the human said, scowling.

"Okay," Danny shrugged. "I have unique powers that allow me to interact with magic in a strange way."

"What kind of powers?" the human asked, his tone clipped as his temper flared.

"I don't know how to describe them to you other than to show them to you. Here, look…" Danny held up and hand and let it flare green with ectoplasmic energy for the crowd to see.

He was unprepared when the dragon roared at him and lunged, claws outstretched. Danny yelped and barely managed to turn himself and the egg intangible in time.

 _Fiend!_ Danny heard a feminine voice shout in his mind. _Ghoul! Foul creature of the depths! Lay your slimy hands off my brethren and begone!_

"Saphira!" the human yelled.

Some of the seated elves had risen up from their chairs, looking at him suspiciously. Saphira ineffectually attempted to rend Danny in two, but he was staying intangible, thank you very much. An angry dragon lunging at you was _terrifying_. Dora and Aragorn had nothing on this dragon, in terms of intimidation. Saphira growled in frustration and snapped at Danny with her jaws before retreating, whining in protest. The human had stopped her, but he was eyeing Danny as though he wanted to get fancy with the ruby-colored sword strapped to his hip.

"Why would Saphira wish to kill you, Danny?" Islanzadí said, scowling. "What manner of creature are you?"

Danny was usually extremely leery of acknowledging his powers in front of strangers. But in this case, he had a feeling he'd be sliced to ribbons or treated to some other gruesome death if he was anything less than forthright. Besides, he doubted that these people would want to cart him off to a laboratory to run experiments. "I'm half-ghost and I'm from another world."

Dead silence.

The dwarf stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled. "I must have heard you incorrectly," he said.

"Pardon?" Islanzadí said incredulously.

Danny shrugged as he turned tangible again. "It's on the tin. I'm half human, half ghost, and I'm from an alternate universe."

More murmurs. Saphira shifted side to side on her haunches, growling softly.

"How do we know you speak the truth? You ask us to believe something as outlandish as an alternate world? That you are part human, part spirit of the dead?" the human said, fingering his sword.

Fadrau reluctantly spoke up. "When I was in his mind, I saw images of a city built using entirely foreign techniques, and there were buildings as tall as trees. It would explain that."

"Oh?" the other elf lady said. "Would you allow us to look inside your mind to ascertain the truth?"

"Fadrau already looked," Danny said sharply. He did not like the idea of another scan.

"I could not draw any conclusions from what I saw, only that he is not an enemy," Fadrau asserted, undermining Danny's argument.

Danny gritted his teeth. Once again, he was expected to sacrifice his privacy for his safety. But what choice did he have? He couldn't escape this place if he refused, and he still had the egg to think about. These elves were a suspicious, ungrateful lot. "Fine," he said, scowling.

The elf lady stepped forward. "If you would lower your barriers."

Danny realized that sometime in the altercation he'd brought up icy walls around his mind. He broke them down before a foreign presence entered his mind. This one felt similar to Fadrau's, in that it held strains of fey music with a dark undercurrent. He shuddered as she began to poke around, turning over memories of his home. He directed her to the memory of when he fell through the portal into the room with the green egg in it. She lingered over that one, running it through three times before she was satisfied. Immediately after, however, she withdrew, radiating disbelief.

"He speaks the truth," the elf announced. This provoked the loudest wave of murmurs yet, the elves glancing among themselves with surprise. The dwarf muttered what sounded like an oath in another language and the human stared at him agape. Saphira hissed, looking as though she was ready to pounce.

"He is not our enemy, as Fadrau said," the elf lady continued.

"Thank you," Danny muttered, rubbing his head to alieve the headache the scan had caused. "Look, I just want to deliver this to you—" he held up the egg, "—and find a way home."

Islanzadí dipped her head. "Very well. We apologize for the scan, but times are harsh. We cannot blindly trust everyone who walks into our forest."

"And I suppose stealing the egg for you wasn't proof enough?" Danny said bitterly.

Saphira growled lowly. _Watch your tongue, demon,_ she said.

Islanzadí said, "No, he is correct. We have been ungracious hosts for one who has done us a great service simply because his kind is unfamiliar to us. For that, Danny, we apologize deeply." Danny watched incredulously as she bowed at the waist, a subservient gesture that told Danny she was serious. "Is there anything we can do to repay your kindness and patience from our suspicion?"

Danny let out a gusty breath. This was what he was looking for. "I just want to go back home, to my own world. Do you know how to make that happen?"

Islanzadí looked troubled. "I know not how you might return, though the answers you seek may be hidden in our archives. I will grant you full access to our libraries. However, much of the work stored within is in the ancient language, the tongue of the elves. I take it you do not speak our language?"

Danny shook his head. "No. And the trick I used to learn the common tongue won't work in Du Weldenvarden – I need to be in my ghost form to make it work, and I can't transform without dire consequence because of the wards."

Saphira seemed mollified by the admission that Danny was at a disadvantage within the forest, since she stopped growling softly. The human was also looking less like he wanted to step forward and stab with his sword.

Islanzadí nodded. "Then the first thing I shall do is assign you a tutor to learn our language and a translator to help guide your perusal of the library in the meantime."

"Thank you for your generosity," Danny said, feeling the formal expression of gratitude necessary.

"Nay, it is our burden to apologize to you in such a manner," the queen said.

There was a moment of silence before Danny held out the egg. "So, are you going to take this, or what?"

The elf lady nodded. "I will take it." She held her arms out for the egg, and Danny gave it to her, feeling strange that he was surrendering the object he'd spent so much time fiercely protecting.

The instant the elf lady's hands touched the egg, the same cord that had tried to bite Danny one night a week ago appeared. It coiled around her before sinking its head into a matching connection that had just appeared in the elf lady's chest. The strand glowed brightly before disappearing.

The next moment, he felt a multitude of emotions from the egg. Gratitude, relief, a tinge of sadness, and an overwhelming amount of impatience. There was a shockwave from the egg, and Danny somehow knew, deep in his bones, that the egg was about to hatch.

"Are you well?" the elf lady asked.

Danny realized he was staring off into space and swaying in spot. He quickly stilled and refocused on her. "Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry. Um, what's your name?"

"I am Arya. We are well met, Danny."

"Nice to meet you. Can I stick around for a bit? I, uh, am kind of reluctant to let the egg out of my sight just yet. I did spend a lot of energy keeping it safe, after all, and I want to make sure it's happy with you."

Arya looked at him strangely but acquiesced.

To stall for time, Danny said, "So, who is everyone?"

In the next few minutes, he was introduced to the twelve lords and ladies of the elvish council (who questioned him about how he was able to survive Saphira's attack), Orik the dwarf (who wanted to know more about the architecture of his world, a subject Danny was woefully inadequate to explain), Eragon Shadeslayer the human Rider (who was still watching him warily but was content to at least shake his hand), and Saphira the dragon (who hissed at him and scuttled back when he approached).

Finally, he heard a telltale squeak from the egg, followed by a crack. He could tell everyone else heard it, too, because they all froze and looked toward Arya, who, for her part, was looking astonished. She reverently put the egg on the ground and waited for the hatchling to finish breaking free of the egg. It rolled on the floor, and the squeaking became more pronounced as the dragon struggled free of the egg. A large piece fell away from one side, revealing a green eye and head. The dragon struggled out of the hole and skittered onto the floor, licking membrane off of its body.

Danny smiled.

* * *

Sorry this one is a bit late. I had a late start today. Hope the length makes up for it!

I relied heavily upon the description of Ellesméra in _Eldest_ , so if some of what's happening is familiar, well, that's why.

So I misjudged the size of the throne room. Saphira can fit in it with ease. Whoops. Sometime I'll go back and fix that in chapter 6.

For those of you who were hoping for Danny to be bonded to Fírnen, sorry. I tried to show that Fírnen wanted to bond with Danny but failed because Danny didn't have the necessary magical component to bond. He's not totally human, after all, and from an alternate universe besides; why would he be included in the spell that creates the basis for dragons and humans/elves to bond?

Also, I officially have a troll. I have no idea why they're willing to spend their time complaining on each chapter that I made Danny weak and therefore boring, but whatever. Any ideas, my loyal readers?

-HM


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Saphira didn't like the newcomer, not one bit. He smelled like death and reminded her entirely too much of Durza, with his pale skin and generally unnatural aura. His only saving grace was the true awe with which he looked at the throne room, with its sweeping honeycombed roof of branches and walls of elegant trees, instead of smirking haughtily like he was above such base human emotions.

 _Peace, Saphira. What troubles you?_ Eragon asked, laying a calming hand on her leg.

 _I don't like him. He smells wrong_ , Saphira admitted. _I fear that him stealing the egg may only be a hoax._

 _Gilderien the Wise let him into Ellesméra, didn't he? Let's trust his judgment for the time being. And if he is an enemy, you may be the one to slew him_ , Eragon replied.

 _Eragon. What is happening in the throne room? What manner of creature has graced the paths of Ellesméra? Glaedr is uneasy, and I find myself unsettled, as well_ , Oromis said to Eragon and Saphira. Since the elves didn't know the individual who had allegedly stolen the dragon egg, and since that individual hadn't taken a vow in the ancient language to keep Oromis's existence a secret, they had felt it best that Oromis watch the proceedings through Eragon's eyes from a distance. Should the elves in the throne room require aid, however, Oromis and Glaedr were ready to reach the throne room within a minute.

 _He appears human_ , Eragon said, sending a picture of the stranger to Oromis. Unlike Durza, who had unnatural blood-red hair, sharpened teeth, and what were almost claws on his slender hands, the stranger looked like a normal, if somewhat dirty, human. Eragon would have believed him to be human on first glance if Saphira hadn't shared what she smelled with him.

"Welcome, stranger," Islanzadí greeted, beginning the exchange and hushing any more conversation between the two Riders and their dragons.

"Uh, hi. I'm Danny," the stranger said, nodding. He had an accent that Eragon had never heard before. His name, too, was unfamiliar.

"Danny," Islanzadí said, unflinchingly responding despite Danny's strangeness. "I am Islanzadí, queen of the elves. I have heard whispers that you bring something very important to us. Is this true?"

"Well, if you think this is important…" Danny reached into his bag and brought out the green dragon egg. It looked very much like Saphira's egg had, mottled with shades of forest green and streaked with veins of white. Eragon jerked in surprise. This stranger had actually stolen the egg from Galbatorix!

Saphira hissed and jerked her neck, equal parts ecstatic and upset. Her brethren was free, yes, but it had been at the hands of this… thing. She didn't want the creature anywhere near the egg. But at a quiet reminder from Oromis, she kept her decorum and manners and didn't demand that he hand over the egg _right this second._

"By Helzvog's beard," Orik mumbled. "He really did steal it."

"How?" Eragon demanded. He had thought it impossible that someone could have stolen the egg from Galbatorix's clutches, yet here was proof that it was possible. What manner of foul magic had this creature employed to make such a thing possible?

"Simple, really," Danny chirped, not nearly serious enough for Eragon's liking. "I just burned away the enchantments protecting it."

Saphira flared her nostrils. It was a non-answer, unintelligible to their current knowledge. How did one burn through magic?

 _Have you heard of such a thing?_ Eragon asked Oromis.

 _No_ , replied Oromis, sounding troubled.

Arya spoke up, addressing their concerns. "It would not be so easy to bypass Galbatorix's protections, I think. Speak clearly."

"Well, how do I say this…" Danny said pensively. "It's complicated."

Eragon's temper flared. That answer had been just as unhelpful as the one before it. "Well, un-complicate it," he snapped.

"Okay," Danny said nonchalantly. "I have unique powers that allow me to interact with magic in a strange way."

That answer was as frustratingly non-descript as the ones before it! "What kind of powers?" Eragon asked, struggling to reign in his temper so he didn't walk over and attempt to wring the answers out of the recalcitrant creature. Saphira, normally the voice of reason, said nothing to dissuade him, equally upset.

"I don't know how to describe them to you other than to show them to you. Here, look…" Danny said, cradling the egg in one arm and holding up one hand for the assembled audience to see. Without uttering a single word, his hand burst into flame, burning an unnatural green. For a split second, Eragon thought it was normal, if unusually colored magic fire, until he received the impressions that Saphira was smelling. There was ozone and a hint of decay and an overall unnatural eeriness that told Eragon that, despite all appearances, that was _not_ a normal flame.

He was about to grill Danny on it when Saphira suddenly lunged forward, claws outstretched. To Eragon's surprise, he didn't hear Danny die a gruesome death, despite Saphira's lethality. _Fiend!_ she roared. _Ghoul! Foul creature of the depths! Lay your slimy hands off my brethren and begone!_

" _Saphira!_ " Eragon yelled physically and mentally. Sure, he didn't _like_ Danny, but that was no reason to suddenly attack him! What had gotten into her?

 _Can't you sense it?_ Saphira demanded, biting. Once again, he failed to hear the sound of a warm body crunching in her jaws. He wondered how Danny was defending himself against an angry dragon. _He smells like something that crawled back from the depths of the void and has been given a second, unnatural chance at life. Once something has entered the void, it should not return, and yet this thing somehow has. It must not be allowed to roam free!_

Eragon couldn't sense what Saphira was sensing, but he trusted his partner to tell the truth. He prepared to join his dragon in the assault, the ancient language springing to his lips…

 _Like it or not, he has done us a great service by retrieving the egg for us_ , Oromis chided, stopping him. _Attacking him is poor thanks._

Saphira whined but backed off. Once Eragon could see Danny again, he saw that the creature was wholly transparent, as though any attack would sail right through him.

 _I couldn't even touch him_ , Saphira confirmed.

Eragon clutched at Zar'roc. Saphira was right; this creature was something unnatural. Despite its human appearance and that it was apparently on their side, who knew what kind of damage it could do? It would be best to retrieve the egg and then slew it.

 _Eragon!_ Oromis reprimanded sharply. _I will not have you acting in such a manner. Such blatant suspicion towards one who has only tried to be a friend is shameful to the legacy of the Riders._

Eragon knew better than to argue with that tone, so he unhappily backed off. _I hope this is wise, ebrithil._

"Why would Saphira wish to kill you, Danny?" Islanzadí questioned. "What manner of creature are you?"

Danny looked pale from Saphira's attack. He hesitated for a second before blurting, "I'm half-ghost and I'm from another world."

Dead silence. Eragon couldn't decide whether to laugh or not. Half-ghost? Another world? Preposterous!

"I must have heard you incorrectly," Orik said.

"Pardon?" Isalnzadí said incredulously.

Danny shrugged as color seeped back into his form, the transparency disappearing like mist in the sunlight. "It's on the tin. I'm half-human, half-ghost, and I'm from an alternate universe."

Eragon couldn't believe what he was hearing. This creature seriously expected them to believe such an outlandish tale? Saphira shifted on her haunches, growling. "How do we know you speak the truth?" Eragon challenged, gripping Zar'roc tightly. "You ask us to believe something as outlandish as an alternate world? That you are part human, part spirit of the dead?"

One of Danny's elven guides reluctantly spoke up. "When I was in his mind, I saw images of a city built using entirely foreign techniques, and there were buildings as tall as trees. It would explain that."

"Oh?" Arya said. "Would you allow us to look inside your mind to ascertain the truth?"

"Fadrau already looked," Danny said sharply, displeased by the notion.

"I could not draw any conclusions from what I saw, only that he is not an enemy," Fadrau said. Eragon internally snorted. He would make his own judgment on that manner, thank you very much.

"Fine," Danny snapped unhappily.

Arya stepped forward. Eragon felt uneasy that she would be diving into a foreign creature's mind, but if the other elf had gone in and come out unscathed, she would likely be fine. If she wasn't, however… well, Eragon was keeping a tight grip on his sword.

The scan took a number of minutes, during which Eragon's muscles were screwed up tight. Saphira's tail twitched from side to side. Oromis kept silent, though he could tell that Saphira was talking with Glaedr.

Finally, Arya withdrew. Her entire posture radiated disbelief. "He speaks the truth," she announced.

"Barzûl," Orik swore as the elf lords and ladies murmured amongst themselves. Eragon's jaw was open in an undignified fashion at the bomb Arya had dropped. He trusted her not to lie about something so important, but how could something so impossible be real?

 _Keep your mind open to new possibilities_ , Oromis murmured, deep in thought himself. _The world is always changing around us. Do not get left behind._

"His is not our enemy, as Fadrau said," Arya continued.

"Thank you," Danny said sarcastically. He held up the egg. "Look, I just want to deliver this to you and find a way home."

"Very well," Islanzadí said. "We apologize for the scan, but times are harsh. We cannot blindly trust everyone who walks into our forest.

"And I suppose stealing the egg for you wasn't proof enough?" Danny asked bitterly.

Saphira growled, insulted that this creature would dare question the queen. _Watch your tongue, demon_ , she broadcasted.

"No, he is correct," Islanzadí said, shooting a warning glance at the present dragon and Rider. "We have been ungracious hosts for one who has done us a great service simply because his kind is unfamiliar to us. For that, Danny, we apologize deeply." Eragon watched in disbelief as Isalnzadí bowed at the waist. What was she thinking? "Is there anything we can do to repay your kindness and patience from our suspicion?"

Danny brightened. "I just want to go home, back to my own world. Do you know how to make that happen?"

"I know not how you might return," Islanzadí replied, "though the answers you seek may be hidden in our archives. I will grant you full access to our libraries. However, much of the work stored within is in the ancient language, the tongue of the elves. I take it you do not speak our language?"

Danny shook his head. "No. And the trick I used to learn the common tongue won't work in Du Weldenvarden – I need to be in my ghost form to make it work, and I can't transform without dire consequences because of the wards."

Eragon could feel that Saphira was mollified by the admission that the creature was less powerful in the forest, whatever he meant by a ghost form. He stopped glaring quite as harshly.

"Then the first thing I shall do is assign you a tutor to learn our language and a translator to help guide your perusal of the library in the meantime," Islanzadí generously offered.

"Thank you for your generosity," Danny said formally.

"Nay, it is our burden to apologize to you in such a manner," the queen said.

Danny held out the egg. "So are you going to take this, or what?"

 _Finally!_ Saphira said. _I thought he would never let go of the egg._

Arya stepped forward. "I will take it," she said, holding her arms out for the egg. Danny deposited it in her arms. Then his eyes took on a strange cast, as though he were seeing something no one else could, and he swayed side to side in one spot. Saphira prepared herself for an attack, based on the creature's suspicious behavior.

"Are you well?" Arya asked.

Danny shook his head slightly, refocusing. "Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry. Um, what's your name?"

"I am Arya. We are well met, Danny." Eragon scowled. Well met, indeed!

"Nice to meet you. Can I stick around for a bit? I, uh, am kind of reluctant to let the egg out of my sight just yet. I did spend a lot of energy keeping it safe, after all, and I want to make sure it's happy with you."

Saphira growled softly, and Eragon had to agree with her caution. Danny's words rang hollow. There was some other reason he wanted to 'stick around'. Unfortunately for their paranoia, Arya acquiesced.

"So, who is everyone?" Danny asked, successfully distracting the conversation.

The lords and ladies wanted to know how he had survived Saphira's attack. Eragon and Saphira eagerly eavesdropped on the answer, looking for a weakness. Danny said he could turn intangible, which meant that solid objects went right through him. Eragon snorted. That sounded like an easily abused power. Orik wanted to know about the architecture in Danny's world, but it apparently wasn't Danny's area of expertise, because he hardly knew anything. Finally, he was introduced to Eragon. Eragon grimaced but dutifully shook the creature's cool hand at Oromis's instruction. Saphira, for her part, scuttled back, hissing, when Danny approached her.

Suddenly, there was a loud squeak that cut through the conversation, followed by a crack. Eragon froze. There was no way the egg was hatching, so soon after it had been delivered to Ellesméra! Who was it hatching for? He hoped it was one of the elves and not Danny. He could feel Oromis's and Glaedr's interest. Saphira was almost vibrating, she was so excited.

Arya reverently put the hatching egg on the floor. It rolled around like Saphira's egg had, squeaking indignantly at the effort it had to put in to break free of the shell. The little hatchling broke a piece off the side of the egg, revealing a green head and neck. Saphira cooed as it started to writhe through the opening. Finally, it had completely escaped the egg, skittering on the floor and licking membrane off itself.

Eragon wasn't sure what to feel. Yes, it was a good thing that the egg had hatched and that another Rider could take up the mantle of the fight against Galbatorix, especially considering Durza's curse on him to feel excruciating pain whenever he overworked himself or extended too far. But where would the new dragon and Rider leave him? Would he be made obsolete, doomed to forever hide away in Ellesméra's leafy halls?

Only Saphira's presence at his side comforted him.

* * *

I felt like this scene from another perspective was necessary. There was a lot going on here, after all, and I couldn't fit it all in last chapter.

Thanks for your feedback, and sorry this chapter is a day late!

-HM


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Danny watched with interest as Arya reverently knelt before the green baby dragon. It yawned, displaying a row of tiny white teeth. Saphira snaked her neck so that her head hovered above the baby dragon and hummed excitedly. Then the green dragon turned around and toddled on unsteady legs towards Arya, looking up at her with shining eyes.

"She will bond with the dragon soon," Fadrau whispered reverently to Danny in explanation.

"My daughter," Islanzadí breathed, beyond shocked. The rest of the elves seemed excited by the hatching, muttering amongst themselves with more vigor than Danny had elicited from them.

"Me?" Arya asked, astonished. She delicately held out a hand for the baby dragon to sniff. The green dragon examined her hand closely before pressing its head upward against Arya's palm.

Immediately, Arya's entire body radiated a strong silver light bright enough that Danny had to shield his eyes. When Danny blinked the spots out of his eyes, he saw that Arya had collapsed beside the green dragon, but no one seemed particularly worried, though the dwarf Orik did step forward before Eragon held him back.

Confused, Danny spoke up. "What happened to her? Is she okay? Why was she glowing?"

"She just formally bonded with her dragon. It is a sacred ritual for the Dragon Riders," Fadrau informed him. Well, that explained why no one was concerned, if it was an expected occurrence. "What do you mean, she was glowing?"

"She was glowing silver pretty brightly. You didn't see it?"

"No. You saw something?" Islanzadí asked.

With the intensity of the light he'd seen, Danny was surprised no one else had witnessed it. It was probably another aspect of magic, then. He fidgeted as the elves examined him with great interest.

"You saw the actual bonding take place," one of the elf lords said in awe. Murmurs swept through the hall.

"I… guess?" Danny shifted self-consciously under the scrutiny. Though he supposed it was par for the course, as the elves had never seen a being like him before. He idly wondered if there were any other species in this world that could see magic as he could. "Don't mind me. You should pay attention to the woman of the hour," Danny said, trying to redirect everyone back to Arya, who Eragon had kneeled beside protectively.

"She should, at least, be taken to an actual bed, instead of being left on the ground," the Rider announced.

Islanzadí nodded in agreement. "We have seen bondings before, in ages long past. Our memories are dusty, but we still know what to do with a new Rider." Though she still seemed a bit dazed that her daughter had been chosen by the dragon, she was handling the situation with admirable grace and poise, as expected of a regent.

The queen clapped her hands, and there was a flurry of movement as a stretcher was brought in and Arya was lifted upon it. The green dragon was reverently approached, and the elves attempted to coax it to follow Arya, but that was where the problems started.

Instead of staying with Arya, as the elves implied a bonded dragon ought to do, the dragon waddled straight towards Danny and curled around his leg, purring.

Saphira bared her teeth and let out a low, menacing snarl. Most of the other occupants of the room looked as though they couldn't believe what was happening.

"Uh…" said Danny, glancing between the dragon and Arya in utter confusion. Did the dragon remember something from the time it had been in the egg? It was the only explanation for how the dragon seemed to be gravitating towards Danny.

"You should go with your Rider," Danny said nervously, gently nudging the dragon towards the stretcher-bearers with a foot.

Eragon scowled thunderously. "What have you done to the green dragon? It shouldn't want to leave its Rider's side!" Saphira stared at him unnervingly with one unblinking sapphire eye, making her displeasure known by the gouges she was digging in the wooden floor with ivory claws.

"Nothing!" Danny protested amidst the growing unease in the throne room. He could see the way the elves were eyeing him mistrustfully. Danny decided that mentioning that the dragon had attempted to bond with him first would be a horrible idea. Learning that Arya was a second choice would no doubt do nothing to endear him to the elves, and he needed to stay on their good side in order to find his way home.

"Come on," Danny said, slowly stooping so that the elves (well, more Eragon and Saphira) wouldn't think he was attacking the green dragon. He carefully picked up the green dragon, which squealed in his arms. Its scales were still slightly damp from being inside the egg. Danny shivered as he felt a tingle of energy rush through him from the dragon, an aftereffect of the bonding.

Danny walked over to the stretcher, which had paused on its way to wherever it was going, and deposited the green dragon next to Arya's head. It curled around her head like a cat and blinked up at him with unfathomable emerald eyes. But Danny could admit, it was rather cute, for something that would grow into something as intimidating and majestic as Saphira.

"Stay with her," Danny said clearly. The green dragon stared at him for a moment longer before settling in completely. The elves took that as their cue to smoothly rush off with the stretcher.

Islanzadí frowned, displeased by the turn of events, but she nonetheless said graciously, "Fadrau, you are to be Danny's guide while in Ellesméra. Show him to one of the old guest's houses." Then she and the elf lords and ladies exited the throne room, following the stretcher. Eragon gave Danny a withering look before he, Saphira, and Orik departed, as well, leaving Danny alone with his guide.

Danny rubbed the back of his head awkwardly in the sudden silence and stillness of the throne room and looked over at Fadrau, who seemed as unshakeable as ever. "So," he began, "Mind showing me where I'll be staying?"

* * *

 _Master Oromis? Master Glaedr? What could it mean that the green dragon abandoned Arya willingly, especially for an unnatural creature such as Danny?_ Saphira asked worriedly as they followed the stretcher bearing Arya. _I only did such a thing as a hatchling because Eragon asked me to._

 _I know not, though it bodes ill. We can only wait and see what becomes of this phenomenon,_ Oromis replied, troubled. _But we cannot blame Danny for it. Islanzadí has informed me that he was as shocked as the rest._

 _Whatever has happened to the green dragon may have been his fault, but it may have also been Galbatorix's fault_ , Glaedr pointed out shrewdly. _And if the fault_ does _lie with Danny, then it was not intentional. We cannot alienate a being powerful enough to retrieve the dragon egg from Galbatorix. He may prove crucial to the war._

 _Will he really want to fight in this war? He says his only goal is to return to the dimension from which he came_ , Eragon said.

 _Like it or not, he's already involved. Galbatorix will not take the insult of such a theft lightly_ , Saphira hummed. _Maybe Galbatorix and Danny will kill each other. It would solve a lot of problems._

 _Saphira,_ Glaedr rumbled disapprovingly. _Your hatred of this foreigner is alarming._

 _You'd understand why if you met him, ebrithil_ , Saphira defended herself. _He doesn't belong here, and it makes my scales itch with the_ wrongness _of it._

 _All the more reason for him to go home. We are not so ungrateful that we would not help one who has done us a great service_ , Oromis said. _In the meantime, you will treat him with respect and gratitude. One's very existence is not a reason to discriminate. It is disturbing that you would be so quick to judge one who has done us no harm._

 _Yet_ , Eragon couldn't help but add.

Eragon could feel Oromis's dissatisfaction. _You will be reflecting on why you are so hostile to a creature you are unfamiliar with in your next meditations. A Rider must be tolerant of all and temper their personal feelings of dislike with compassion, even with those they are unaccustomed to._

 _Yes, ebrithil,_ Eragon said dutifully, struggling to take the words to heart. Saphira, it seemed, was having more problems than he was. Eragon supposed his initial dislike of Danny was due to Saphira's dislike, but he could work around that.

If Danny proved to be an enemy, however… he would not be so lenient.

* * *

Fadrau led Danny from the throne room through the twisting paths of Ellesméra. Word had evidently spread of the delivery of the egg but not of the green dragon's behavior, because the elves that watched Danny from the side of the path now held a curious, admiring edge to their scrutiny. Danny did see a few, however, who eyed him mistrustfully, following Eragon's and Saphira's adversarial example instead of Islanzadí's tempered, gracious one.

As they forged deeper into the city, Danny thought that Ellesméra was just as stunning as it was when he had first laid eyes on it, elegant and beautiful, the manmade structures organically entwined with the forest. Each house was a unique work of art.

"How are the houses made?" Danny asked Fadrau, pointing out a hexagonally shaped one elevated at least three stories off the ground.

"We sing them from the trees," Fadrau unhelpfully answered.

Danny stared. "And that means…?"

Fadrau sighed and explained, "We imbue our voices with magic and sing the forest into the shapes we want."

That made a bit more sense, Danny supposed. He wished his guide was a little more talkative. He wanted to know more about the city he'd likely be spending a significant amount of time in. What was its history? What enchantments protected it? Were there any areas Danny should avoid so he didn't damage the wards? He supposed he wouldn't be wandering too much, but more knowledge would still be nice. He knew from his trip to Ellesméra that getting elves to give a straight answer was almost an exercise in futility.

The duo finally stopped in front of a house that was grown from a gigantic elm tree. The trunk bulged around the squat house, which was cylindrical in shape. Stair steps led up five stories to a curved entryway, and a set of suspended wooden bridges connected the house to three other houses near it.

"This is an ambassador's lodgings, from when the forest was not closed to outsiders," Fadrau said. "It was sung from the elm with other races in mind, so the stairs are shallower, and the amenities a bit different."

"Cool," Danny said.

Fadrau, by now used to Danny's slang after days of travel, merely shrugged. "It is what it is. For now, why don't you get settled? I will be back in the evening to collect you for dinner." And then the elf was gone, melting back into the shadows of the forest with alarming skill. Danny eyed the place where the elf had been a bit longer, resisting the urge to channel energy to his eyes to see where Fadrau had disappeared to – because he'd probably just wind up blinding himself, with all the magic in Ellesméra, instead – and then turned to the stairs, which were sized just right for a human, and began to climb.

* * *

There were three rooms in the house Danny had been granted: a bedroom, a bathroom, and a study. The bedroom was open to the sky, as was the study. It took Danny some time to find the gossamer membrane from the crevasses in the wall that would seal the two open rooms from the elements. The bedroom had a soft bed with downy sheets and a dresser that was filled with tunics like the ones the elves wore that, it seemed, were Danny's size. The bathroom was stocked with a razor and soap, and Danny sharply felt the absence of modern toothpaste – a familiar feeling during his travels in this world. The study had a wooden desk, a chair, a quill, ink, some parchment, and a window that faced the city, which was more expansive than Danny had thought.

Danny unpacked the meagre belongings he had in the bedroom. He had his waterskin, which was half-full of water, and the clothes from his modern world. That was it. He had no weapons besides his ghost powers, no tools aside from what he could produce with his ice, no trinkets or baubles he'd picked up along his journey. He'd been living sparsely ever since he'd fallen into this world with nothing more than the clothes on his back. The other belongings he might have had with him – his wallet, keys, phone – had all been left at home. He'd lost or damaged enough important things during ghost fights to know that taking them into the Ghost Zone was a bad idea.

Looking over the modern clothes he'd laid on the bed, Danny felt homesick and adrift. His one reason for fighting in this world – the egg – had hatched, therefore leaving him. He had nothing tying him to this world save for his own misfortune. His normal coping mechanism for depression – flying – wouldn't do anything for him because he couldn't transform in this area laden with magic, and he couldn't fly at any appreciable speed or for any sizable length in his human form. He'd just exhaust himself in the attempt, and he was tired enough, anyway.

Feeling morose, he tucked the modern clothes away in a corner of a drawer, withdrew a forest green tunic and tan breeches, and retreated to the bathroom to take a bath in the substantially sized hollow. Maybe cleaning off several days' worth of grime would make him feel better.

* * *

Welcome back to The Thief! Apologies for the six-month hiatus. Hopefully, I'll be able to stick to a semi-regular updating schedule for this and The Phantom, as well as a couple newer stories I have in the works. I'll get back to Shadowfall over the summer, when I have more time.

Enjoy, and see you soon!

-HM


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

There was a great feast that night to celebrate the green egg's hatching after Arya awoke, her hand marked with a silver oval that Danny learned was called a gedwëy ignasia, the physical manifestation of the Rider's bond with their dragon. The food was excellent (if entirely vegetarian – he wondered what the dragons would eat) and the performers exquisite, but there was an underlying thread of tension through the whole meal that everyone could pick up on.

Eragon and Arya were seated together on one side of Islanzadí, Saphira crouched behind the former and the green dragon (who had been named Fírnen) sat on the latter's lap. The elven lords and ladies were seated on Islanzadí's other side. And poor Danny was stuck sitting right next to Eragon, feeling Saphira loom over him. Someone must have said something to her and Eragon, though, because they made no overt aggressive moves toward Danny.

Even when Fírnen attempted to crawl from Arya's lap and over Eragon's to Danny's during the meal.

Eragon gently guided Fírnen back to Arya each time. Instead of being combative, like her fellow Rider, Arya merely looked confused and hurt by her dragon's rejection. Danny, too nervous to talk over Eragon, wasn't able to tell her that he didn't know what Fírnen was thinking. He'd have to hunt her down sometime to talk to her, otherwise the situation would likely escalate, and that was the last thing Danny wanted.

And here he'd been thinking that all his problems would be solved when he made it to the elves. Instead, he'd just generated a bunch of new ones.

He hoped that the elves wouldn't retract their support. Otherwise Danny would really be stuck here.

"You smell strange." Danny turned to see a small, white-haired woman peering curiously up at him from under messy bangs. Something about her posture made Danny think she wasn't human; she reminded him of a cat.

"Maud," Eragon greeted, nodding. "I trust you've been well?"

"Aye," said Maud before turning her attention back to Danny. "I've heard the rumors of an unnatural creature retrieving the green dragon's egg. I suppose they were true. I have found myself in interesting company, indeed." She grinned, showing fangs that were most certainly not human in nature. Then she slunk off, skulking behind Islanzadí's chair and watchfully observing Danny.

"So, uh, what's with her?" Danny asked Eragon uncomfortably.

He received a strange look in return, likely because his style of speaking was quite different from what Eragon was used to. But despite his dislike, Eragon was making an effort to be friendly, which Danny appreciated. "She is a werecat who has settled with the elves. I know not much about her, just that she remains often by the queen's side."

"A werecat? Like someone who turns into a cat?"

"A large, shaggy-haired cat, but aye."

Danny spent the remainder of the meal making small talk with a vigilant Eragon. He learned that the elves didn't eat meat but would provide the growing Fírnen, too young to venture far into the forest for food, with meat. Danny wasn't uncomfortable with a vegetarian diet – Sam, one of his best friends, observed such restrictions – but he did enjoy a balanced meal that included meat, so he supposed he'd be taking Fadrau into Du Weldenvarden occasionally so he could put his nascent fishing skills to use.

He also discovered that Eragon was from a small village called Carvahall near the mountain range, called the Spine, he'd flown along back when he'd first been heading aimlessly north. He learned a little bit about dwarves from Orik, who was seated on Danny's other side, and in turn shared tidbits about Amity Park and his dimension as a whole.

But while his audience listened in fascination to Danny, he couldn't forget that he was far from home surrounded by people who would likely take his head off if he misstepped.

* * *

Danny woke the next morning just a little after the sun had risen, having slept better in the bed than he had during all his days of travel. He wasn't attacked during his sleep, so he counted that as a win. (His standards for hospitality, after all the ghosts he'd had the misfortune of being "accommodated" by, were pretty low.) He performed his morning ablutions and ventured outside. Fadrau was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

"You sleep late," the elf noted as a greeting. Danny snorted; Fadrau would likely be aghast if he knew that Danny slept until noon occasionally back home. "Would you like to go to the library?"

"Actually, could we look around Ellesméra a little bit? I'd like to see more of the city," Danny replied. He'd seen his fair share of otherworldly vistas in the Ghost Zone, but Ellesméra was something entirely new, and he was curious. It was just too bad he didn't have a camera with him. Maybe he was being a bit of tourist, but who wouldn't be interested to see a place that had been built literally by a different species?

"Very well," Fadrau nodded, turning and motioning Danny to follow. They trekked along the paths of Ellesméra, Danny seeking to commit everything he saw to memory, from the houses literally grown from the trees to the beautiful elves who flitted between light and shadow. They passed some organic water features – a small stream with rocks placed just _so_ to alter its course, a fountain of water that seemed to spring from and disappear into nowhere – and some gardens with gorgeous arrangements of flowers.

They wandered by a gigantic tree in the middle of Ellesméra which Fadrau proclaimed to be the sacred Menoa Tree. The tree was so cloaked with magic that Danny could almost taste it, and he could sense a slow consciousness within the tree that seemed to stir and wake up a little at his presence. When questioned about it, Fadrau returned with an eerie story about an elf maiden named Linnëa who stabbed her unfaithful lover to death and then sang herself into a tree.

They eventually came upon an open clearing filled with sparring elves, plus Eragon. Except something was wrong. Danny could see a deep black miasma that hadn't been there before crowding diagonally along Eragon's back. Even as he watched, Eragon, outmatched in strength and speed by the elf he was sparring with, fell to the ground, screaming in pain, the smog on his back turning a malicious red. Danny nearly rushed forward to try to help but was held back by Fadrau.

"What's going on?" he asked as the elves proceeded to ignore the spectacle, though Eragon's sparring partner did agitatedly twirl his sword in his grip.

Fadrau replied, "In his great battle against the Shade Durza, Eragon was terribly wounded and cursed so that his back pains him."

"And there's nothing you guys can do about it?" Danny asked incredulously. The elves seemed like a people who were quite advanced with the magic they could perform; could they not undo Eragon's curse?

"No," Fadrau said, his lips thinning and his eyes narrowing in displeasure almost imperceptibly.

Danny briefly thought about telling his guide that he could see a physical manifestation of the curse, that malignant miasma threaded into Eragon's back. Maybe he could try to help. But then he dismissed the thought, because with his luck, he'd accidentally wind up killing the Rider and then he'd be completely screwed.

But Fadrau was more perceptive than Danny gave him credit for. "You saw something?" he asked shrewdly as Eragon's attack was winding down.

Danny winced and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah."

"What did you see? Perhaps it will help us find a cure to his condition."

Danny relayed what he'd seen uncomfortably. He hoped it would help Eragon rather than hurt him more. Despite the Rider's uncharitable attitude toward Danny, he still didn't wish Eragon ill. Danny was just that kind of bighearted person.

They left the training grounds and wandered some more in Ellesméra, though the relaxed mood had evaporated in the face of Eragon's agony. Danny was about to ask Fadrau to take him to the library so they could get to work when he heard a metallic clanking in the distance. Curious, because he didn't associate these elves with metalwork, he beckoned Fadrau to follow him to a house sung from a ring of trees that seemed to shelter a forge. An elf was bent over the forge, hammering out something on an anvil.

"That is Rhunön-elda," Fadrau said softly, reverently. "She is the greatest smith in the world. Let us not disturb her."

But as though the scrutiny had alerted her, Rhunön looked up from her work straight at Danny. Her face was lined with age. She barked something in the elves' language at him, and Fadrau answered respectfully, touching two fingers to his lips. She beckoned the two closer.

The elf woman snorted as they approached. "So, you only speak this foul language, eh? No matter. Even I have heard of the famous dimension-hopper who brought Fírnen to us." Rhunön grabbed Danny's chin to inspect his face closer. Danny resisted the urge to knock her hand away because he had a feeling that disrespecting this elf would be a bad idea. "You look human, but you're not, are you?" she murmured, assessing.

"Half-human," Danny corrected.

"Hmm," Rhunön said. "Come here. Show me what you can do." She turned back to the forge, putting aside the project she'd been working on – it looked like a shirt of chainmail armor.

Danny looked at Fadrau a bit incredulously at the brusque elf's demeanor. He hadn't met an elf yet who was anything less than elegant, but Rhunön seemed a bit rougher around the edges. He wasn't about to follow her instructions without a signal from his guide that such an action would be okay, though.

Fadrau nodded at him, looking a little star-struck. Danny rolled his eyes and approached the forge, where Rhunön was waiting impatiently. She presented him with a small bauble of intricately wrought swirls, and Danny took it, looking at her questioningly.

Rhunön gestured at the trinket. "I've heard you can destroy magic. Show me," she said. Danny glanced at her one last time before focusing on the metal in his hands and calling up ectoplasmic energy from his core. The air around him shimmered, laden with the script of magic, but so long as Danny focused only on the bauble, he'd be okay. He let plasma lick at the trinket, dissolving the enchantments he could see were placed there. When all the script was gone, he let his energy fade again so he didn't have to look at all the script floating around the forge and handed the twists of metal back to Rhunön. She accepted it with a hum before she placed it on the anvil and smashed it with a hammer, shattering it into pieces. Danny jumped.

"So it's true," Rhunön said in her raspy voice. "If the enchantments I'd placed on that were still active, I shouldn't have been able to scratch it." She leaned closer to Danny, eyes glittering. "I made an oath some time ago that I would like to get rid of. Can you do it?"

"Um," said Danny, who looked back at Fadrau for guidance but saw him only looking dumbfounded and wouldn't be much use for advice. "I might be able to? Give me a second…" He channeled energy to his eyes to look at the script floating around Rhunön. It took a little time to sort out which magic was merely a part of the surroundings and which magic was a part of her. "Uh, there's a lot of magic bound to you. I wouldn't know which one to even try to unravel. Sorry."

"Can you differentiate between them?"

"Well, yes, but it's all in a language I can't read," Danny said.

"The ancient language?" she asked, eyes shrewd.

"I… think so?" Danny said hesitantly. Fadrau had said something about a language bound to magic during their trip to Ellesméra.

Rhunön nodded. "Very well. Learn the ancient language, then come back to me and undo my oath. Do it, and I'll make you a sword the likes of which you'll not find an equal in Alagaësia."

Danny gaped at her. A sword? What on earth would he do with a sword? "Uh, I'm really not much of a sword fighter," he said, squirming under her gaze. He was good with hand-to-hand combat and energy manipulation, but he'd never had much of a chance or a need to learn how to use weapons.

Rhunön shook her head. "If you're going to be staying in our world, you're going to need to know swordplay." She tossed a poker at Danny, who caught it and stared stupidly at it for a second before there was a whistling in the air. Danny hurtled backward, out of the way of another poker that Rhunön had picked up and was attacking him with.

Now, Danny knew the difference between someone who was attacking to kill and someone who wanted a spar. Rhunön's assault definitely fell into the latter category, but the speed and strength with which she was attempting to engage him with was astonishing. Danny wouldn't last long without strengthening and speeding his own limbs with ectoplasmic energy.

"Quit dancing around!" Rhunön hollered as Danny fell back on his tried-and-true strategy of dodging weapons (usually while aiming for an opening with an ectoblast, but Danny had a feeling that hurtling the elf across the forge would not endear him to anyone). Finally, Danny had no choice but to block her poker with his own, gritting his teeth from the force of the blow but refusing to back down. His swings were wild and he couldn't hit her, but neither could she hit him, because he kept automatically turning intangible when it looked like her poker would strike him.

Finally, she called, "Enough!" once there were so many dents in their pokers that they were more crooked than straight. Danny immediately dropped his poker, panting. He was in shape from all the ghost fights he participated in, but he still found many workouts strenuous.

Rhunön snorted. "Well, your form is rough, and you can cheat with your abilities, but you've got good instincts, for someone who's never touched a sword before," she appraised. "You should go to the training arena and find someone to teach you."

Danny nodded, accepting the advice. The physical activity would keep him from becoming terribly bored during his stay in Ellesméra, because holing up in the library all day, no matter how pretty it probably was, sounded like a nightmare.

"Now, begone! You are quite intriguing, boy, but I tire of others' presence for now. Come back another time, once you have learned the ancient language." And with that, she returned to her shirt of chainmail, ignoring Danny. Normally, he'd be insulted, but impoliteness seemed to be her quirk, and masters of their craft, like Rhunön, deserved respect, anyway.

For all that she was rude, she was pretty interesting to talk to. She also didn't walk on eggshells around him, like he was something terribly dangerous. (Well, he _was_ dangerous, but it was nice to be treated as a normal person by someone in this world.) Maybe he'd return and visit her sometime.


	13. Chapter 12

"I can't believe Rhünon-elda acknowledged us!" Fadrau said in awe as he steered Danny away from the forge. If Fadrau hadn't had the firm emotional control that seemed typical of most elves, he probably would've been gushing.

"Does she usually ignore visitors?" Danny asked.

"She dislikes being disturbed," Fadrau agreed tactfully. "Were she not the greatest of our smiths, she would not be respected so highly."

"So, where are we going now?" Danny asked, noting that Fadrau's guidance was more purposeful than earlier, when they were just wandering and sightseeing.

"Tialdarí Hall," Fadrau answered briskly. "Your tutor is ready to meet you there."

"Who is he? She?"

"I have not been informed."

Instead of earlier, when Fadrau had been at least a bit talkative as he showed off his city and culture, Fadrau fell silent as he led Danny through Ellesméra. He seemed preoccupied with his thoughts, judging by the slight furrow in his brow. Danny reached out with his senses, just enough to read Fadrau without drowning in the ambient magic of Ellesméra. Danny blinked at the impressions he was receiving – disbelief, awe, incredulity, and some feeling flavored like, "holy shit holy shit this is impossible" that he translated to, "freaking out." It was really impressive how little of that was showing on Fadrau's face. Danny would have brushed it off as massive hero-worship of Rhünon, except for the negative spin he was picking up. Either Rhünon was less popular or important than he'd been led to believe (which seemed unlikely, given that Fadrau's reactions to her before she'd greeted them seemed genuine), or Danny's promise was problematic in some way, either taboo or thought impossible.

Or maybe Danny was overthinking things, and the reason for the negativity was completely different. He didn't know these people or their culture too well, after all.

Danny entertained the hope for a moment before sighing and discarding it. His luck was never that good.

Fadrau stopped when they arrived at a garden Danny hadn't seen before, one more spectacular than all the others he'd seen earlier, filled with arrangements of flowers of all shapes and colors. Danny sneezed as the magic keeping the flowers healthy tickled his nose. It was rather irritating, but it seemed to be doing the flowers a world of good: the blossoms were larger than anything similar Danny had seen, and he spotted flowers he _knew_ only grew in tropical regions happily growing alongside plants that would undoubtedly wilt and die in tropical heat.

"I guess we've made it?" Danny sniffed, eyes watering. He hoped that the library was at a different location than Tialdarí Hall, because constant allergy attacks while trying to research no doubt difficult and esoteric subjects would be a giant pain in the ass. At least there wasn't anything similar in function to blood blossoms in the beds, from what he could tell.

"Tialdarí Hall," Fadrau announced, beckoning for Danny to join him in walking through the gardens. "This is where we store much of our art and history, and it is the building that is most beautifully integrated with the forest. Elves have been expanding and improving it for centuries. In addition, many elves call this place home, including our royalty."

Danny had to agree with the assessment of Tialdarí Hall's splendor; many of the places they'd seen outside had paled in scope and beauty to the rooms inside. Each room had a different natural theme. Elves were scattered through the hall, appreciating the many distinct designs. Many were writing or drawing. They noted Danny's presence, watching with shrewd eyes, but they made no other move to acknowledge him.

Fadrau gave no indication that the next room they just entered was different from any of the others until he twitched in surprise. Danny glanced around – there was a pond in the center of the room with water so clear he honestly couldn't tell how deep it was – until he spotted an elf standing with his back turned to them, examining some leafy bush by the wall. He wore a sleeveless tunic embroidered with vines and his black hair was bound in a loose, low ponytail, but it was his skin that was most interesting, patterned in splotches of dark and light that reminded Danny of the dappled shadows beneath an oak tree in summer.

"Greetings," the elf said in a melodious tenor without turning. "Danny, correct?"

"Danny, uh, that's me, yep. Um, hi?" Danny said, wincing at how inelegant he sounded compared to the other. He was caught a bit off-guard by the elf directly addressing him instead of just watching him.

The elf turned, his head tilted to one side as he studied Danny, who felt eerily like he was being watched by a bird of prey. Then he faintly smirked, and the impression disappeared. "Well met."

"You too," Danny said, scratching a no doubt red cheek in embarrassment. "How's it going?"

"If by 'it' you mean 'my life,' it has been a long journey filled with trials, tribulations, and occasional good fortune. Or, if you meant 'my latest academic pursuit,' the grafted trees are doing splendidly and I have begun attempting to graft plants with softer stems. Or perhaps you meant 'my day,' in which case it has been quite interesting, for Queen Islanzadí has requested that I teach you our language and accompany you regularly to our library," the elf finished, eyes twinkling.

"You're my tutor," Danny translated, feeling slow and off-balance.

"Indeed I am. I am Elduin, Sage of Ellesméra. Shall we adjourn to the library? We would not wish to disturb the meditations of others." Elduin gestured for Danny and Fadrau to follow, crow's feet around his eyes crinkling (the only indication of advanced age he'd seen on an elf besides Rhünon), and glided out of the room with long strides.

Danny hesitated for a split second, befuddled, before hurrying after. He'd met his fair share of eccentric individuals, between all the ghosts and ghost hunters and just plain weirdos he'd run into, but something about Elduin's mannerisms managed to leave him off-balance, anyway. Danny would need to stay on his toes to keep up, kind of like with Clockwork, except Clockwork was more annoyingly cryptic and Elduin seemed more whimsical.

"Know anything about this guy?" Danny huffed to Fadrau as they jogged after Elduin.

"Elduin-elda tends to many of the hidden rooms in this hall. In addition, he is the primary caretaker of our library. He is near impossible to find unless he approaches you first, and he is capricious in deciding who he comes to. I don't know much about him because I have seen him only a handful of times, and never up close," Fadrau said, sounding a little dazzled. "Some of the most flighty of our masters have taken an interest in you. I never dreamed I would ever be so close to even one."

Fadrau had to be the most composed dorky fanboy Danny had ever met (and he'd met quite a few of them drooling over Phantom).

Elduin stopped in front of a circular door squirrelled away deep in the hall, where fewer paths and more large-scale forest art made it difficult to find one's way. (Thankfully, this area didn't seem as saturated with magic as the entrance to the hall, and it was much easier to breathe. It wasn't completely comfortable, but Danny could tolerate it much more easily.) The door looked like it was made of twined tree roots, and there was no visible doorknob. Elduin tapped three unremarkable places on the door and murmured something. The seams between the roots glowed green, and then the door soundlessly opened on invisible hinges.

Unlike many of the rooms in Tialdarí Hall, which had windows open to the sunlight, this one had a cozy, grotto-like feel to it. There was a thick, leafy canopy overhead, and light was provided by soft floating globes of light and artfully arranged bioluminescent moss. There were three other doors, each made from a different smooth wood. Patches of a soft, springy moss covered the floor between furniture made from some kind of fuzzy, water-bloated succulent that squished pleasantly when Danny pressed a hand on one. There were a few hardwood chairs and tables, each differently shaped to cater to different individuals' senses of comfort. It kind of looked like a college study room.

(Danny had crashed into a few of those in ghost fights. College students were _weird_ ; they either reacted like giddy/scared high school students, stared and shrugged and got back to work, or cursed him and his current adversary for interrupting their zombie-eyed cram session at three in the morning.)

"Welcome to one of the innermost chambers in Tialdarí Hall – Hjall Abr Chetuwä, the Hall of Wisdom," Elduin said grandly, sweeping his arms wide. "This is the outer chamber, the dedicated study area for our library. Of course, many elves find that they can concentrate better in different environments and are allowed to take our ancestors' wisdom, save for a few select works, beyond these chambers, so long as they do not leave Tialdarí Hall.

"Each of these doors leads to a different area of the library," Elduin continued, pointing to each in turn. "This central one, made of mahogany – it leads to the library proper, where the majority of the works rest. The door to the left, of sturdy oak – that leads to the chambers for the guardian of the library – my chambers, in other words. As for the blackwood door to the left… it is where the most dangerous of our wisdom is stored. Do not try to enter, for you will be forever lost. Even I do not know the entirety of what lies beyond that door."

That sounded ominous, Danny thought. No doubt he'd have to go inside sooner or later, because that was just how his life worked. Sometimes he thought the universe hated him.

"For the time being, I'll be cramming as much proficiency in the ancient language as I can into your head before I allow you through the mahogany door," Elduin said, his speech patterns shifting to be less formal. "You may call me by my name, but in proper company you should refer to me as Ebrithil or Elduin-ebrithil. Lastly…" Elduin fished around in a pouch he wore at his side for a moment before withdrawing a smooth, curved block of wood and tossing it to Danny. "This is a key to open the outside door. Just tap it to the center of the pattern and you'll be admitted. It won't work on any of the inner doors. Normally, I'd key the door to your magic or blood, but I've heard about your incompatibility with our magic, so I made this as a workaround. Do try not to burn off the enchantments, because making a new one would be a hassle. And if you lose it, I will make your life quite unpleasant," Elduin said, grinning in an unfriendly manner that promised potential retribution. "I expect to see you in here every day. Any questions?"

Danny's head spun as he parsed through the information. He was more than just a bit apprehensive about learning from a perceptive individual such as Elduin. "I'm not going to be stuck in here all the time, am I?" he asked, because no matter how comfy the study room looked, if he was going to be trapped in here aside from meals and sleep, he was going to go bonkers.

Elduin huffed. "I should hope not. It's my job to spend all my time tending to our ancient wisdom, not yours. I am willing to spend a full quarter of my day – that's six hours – working with you, but no more. And should you knock on my door after sundown or before sunup, I will not answer."

Six hours a _day_ just on a foreign language, cooped up in this room? Danny could already feel his soul wilting. It was for a good cause, he reminded himself, and it wasn't like he had much else to do with his time. "Is there a specific time I should show up?" he asked feebly. Best to get on (and stay on) Elduin's good side.

"Come when you can, as long as it is daily, between dawn and dusk. I'm not terribly picky, and my schedule is quite flexible. I have a feeling that attempting to confine you to a strict schedule would end in disaster, simply because of all the unexpected things that would interfere," Elduin said wryly.

Danny blinked; he had no idea how Elduin had come to that conclusion when Danny had hardly spoken since their meeting.

Something must have shown on his face, because Elduin smirked and continued, "You're here, aren't you? Not only that, but you retrieved Fírnen for us. Your luck is either abominable when it comes to blundering into delicate situations, or your curiosity lands you in more trouble than most."

Danny sighed. He really couldn't refute that logic. "Both, really…"

"I can't really say I'm surprised," Elduin said, amused. "Any other questions?"

"I think I'm good," Danny said. He had the gist of things, and he was better at thinking on his feet and resolving problems as they cropped up instead of trying to plan for potential problems. He'd leave that to Jazz.

"Excellent. As for you…" Elduin said, shifting his gaze to Fadrau. "Our illustrious queen informed me that you're to stay by Danny's side as much as you are able, should there be none other with him. Ask before trying to enter the library proper, but otherwise do as you wish."

"Yes, sir," Fadrau said a bit uncomfortably, though whether from discomfort of Elduin's importance or his informality, Danny couldn't be sure.

Elduin nodded in acceptance before turning to Danny again. "Shall we begin?"

* * *

Danny groaned and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms, trying to will the tension headache away as he flopped onto his bed. Elduin was an engaged and demanding teacher, Danny had learned over the past few hours. They spent most of the time verbally drilling pronunciation and basic sentences, interspersed with etiquette rules. While not as completely integrated as Japanese etiquette rules (verb conjugation didn't change based on who you were addressing, for one – Japanese had been a pain to learn, even with his shortcut), elvish etiquette was still stricter than the majority of Western etiquette Danny was most familiar with. At least he could get through the traditional elvish greeting – including the hand motions and kind of accurately judging who would start the exchange (the lower-ranked of the two conversationalists, and that when in doubt, he should go first).

Even without use of his shortcut, Danny knew he was able to pick up new languages faster than most people – something about how his brain processed communication a bit differently following his accident/half-death. (He tried not to think too hard about it, or the other subtle changes to his brain (mostly non-human reflexes and instincts).) That didn't mean it wasn't hard, though.

He was even going to bed far, far earlier than he normally did. Anyone who said that mental workouts couldn't be as strenuous and exhausting as physical workouts was a horrible liar.

Unfortunately, that meant that he hadn't tracked down Arya yet, and that needed to happen soon. He needed to clear the air between them regarding Fírnen's behavior, even though they hadn't yet chatted one on one yet. The last thing he needed was a resentful Rider breathing down his neck alongside the suspicious one. He had no doubt that Eragon would be trying to keep close tabs on him, beyond what Fadrau was no doubt reporting to the queen.

This was why Danny hated politics – all the careful tiptoeing and masks were so aggravating and inconvenient. Ghosts were so much simpler to deal with, even if they didn't know the meaning of the word "no."

As Danny drifted off, the pain in his head easing, he resolved to try to find Arya first thing tomorrow, because it needed doing, and he refused to submit himself to Elduin's tender mercies until he'd been awake for a few hours.

* * *

Danny blearily stumbled out the door the next morning, well after the sun had risen. He'd slept for nearly twelve hours. It seemed his body was taking full advantage of the lack of ghostly interruptions during the night to catch up on much-needed sleep. There was a tray of food left on his doorstep – fresh cut fruits, seed cakes, and a honey pastry – along with a note from Fadrau:

 _:I have been called to settle a nearby dispute, just beyond the borders of the city. I will return shortly.:_

No one had specifically forbidden Danny from wandering through Ellesméra by himself, even though Fadrau had heavily hinted that he shouldn't do so. Thanks, but no thanks; Danny didn't need a babysitter to go find Arya, and he especially didn't want another person breathing down his neck while he spoke with her. So he used the quill and ink his guesthouse had been provided with and messily scribbled that he had something personal to do and would meet with Fadrau later.

Danny didn't know where Arya was, but Fadrau had mentioned something about the royal family living in Tialdarí Hall. Even if she wasn't there, someone could probably point him in the direction she'd gone.

Except… crap, which way was Tialdarí Hall from here? He hadn't been paying as much attention as he should have last night as Fadrau led him to his guesthouse, and the landmarks were unfamiliar.

 _Maybe this way…?_ Danny thought as he picked one of the paths in the grass. The currently unlit lantern along the way looked a little familiar…

Except, Danny found about ten minutes later, nearly all of Ellesméra's lanterns were crafted in the same design, and he was thoroughly lost. There was no one around to ask for directions, either. Grimacing, Danny picked another path and forged onward, because paths had to lead somewhere, and he'd eventually find _someone_ to direct him. He had to brush aside some cobwebs of magic to keep moving; there were a lot of ambient spells in Ellesméra that would cling to him, even along the paths.

Except that this path seemed to head away from the center of the city, if the increasing thickness of the underbrush was anything to go by. The air was slightly clearer, too – less concentrated magic to choke on the farther from the center.

Danny was just about to turn around – because Tialdarí Hall definitely was not on the outskirts of Ellesméra – when the forest opened into a large clearing near a cliff. A small hut was nestled among a copse of trees away from the cliff's edge, but most of Danny's attention was occupied by the huge golden dragon standing at the edge, wings unfurled as though about to take flight. He barely noticed Saphira beside the gold dragon, because she was dwarfed in comparison. Which was incredibly disconcerting, because Danny had thought that _she_ was plenty large and intimidating when he'd met her.

 _My luck is the worst_ , he thought miserably as he heard Eragon exclaim something in his surprise. He barely caught a glimpse of another figure by Eragon (an elf, probably) before Saphira whirled and lunged and he was deafened by a deep, earsplitting roar.

* * *

A/N:

I'm alive, I'm back, and it hasn't quite been a full year since I updated this story...? Hi?

So I was going to tell you guys to run over to my writing blog (hollowmashiro on tumblr) for a full explanation of why I've been gone, but my computer died on me just before posting this, meaning delays and posting this on my friend's laptop and not being able to write a full post about why until I have more time to finagle with technology. It boils down to "very very bad mental health issues." That post will get out eventually, but not yet. The only reason I could post was because I back up all my important stuff online and I didn't lose all that much when my computer died.

Anyway, welcome back, and I hope you guys are still interested in finding out what will happen.

-HM


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